A report in The Luton News of October 10th, 1918, seemed pretty conclusive. “Sec-Lieut Boston killed” said the headline on a story in which his commanding officer said he must report him 'wounded in action, missing, probably killed'. And the War Office reported him 'missing, presumably killed in action'.

But Sec-Lieut Cyril Arthur Northwood Boston (pictured right), son of William and Sophia Boston, of 71 Highbury Road, Luton, was alive and being held as a prisoner of war. The Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph of October 19th, 1918, carried a one-paragraph story saying there was “authoritative information” that he was in an unidentified prisoner of war camp that was believed to be in Holland.

Cyril Boston had risen through the ranks to gain a commission with the Royal Berkshire Regiment. He had been reported missing on September 21st, 1918, after what his commanding officer described as the most successful action in which he took part. But he could not be found afterwards.

He wrote: “There is evidence to show that he was wounded (left wrist) and called to his platoon sergeant to take command of his men. There is also evidence enough to make me practically certain that he was killed by shell fire on his way back to the dressing station. I have done everything possible to trace him, and all effort have so far been in vain.

“In my own mind I feel certain that he was killed by a shell, and if what I believe to have happened is correct, there can be no doubt that he suffered no pain...I wish I could tell you he is a prisoner because of the position when he was wounded and the success of the operation in which he took part.”

Born in Luton on July 12th, 1891, Cyril Boston was a former pupil of Waller Street School and had been well known in junior football circles. During his service he was also in demand as a pianist in YMCA huts and the officers' mess.

He enlisted in the Herts Yeomanry in September 1914 and rose to the rank of corporal before being selected for a cadetship to gain his commission. He had married Olive Edna Little in Essex in June 1918, a week before going to France. Olive continued to live with her mother at Leigh-on-Sea.

Cyril's Red Cross prisoner of war report gives no details of his internment, merely listing him as “missing (dead?)”. He in fact died in Kent in 1969 at the age of 78.