Digest of stories from The Luton News: Thursday, August 2nd, 1917.

There are unmistakable indications that the 1/5th Bedfordshire Regiment have been in action again, and that they have not escaped scatheless. For some days we have known that there had been "something on," and we have received the names of two or three who have fallen.

In the casualty list appears the name of Lieut-Col E. W. Brighten (pictured right), Commanding Officer, and we are authoritatively informed that he has sustained only a comparatively slight wound. That is all the information yet received in Luton, but it is a certainty that we shall shortly learn of further casualties.

This was to be the first news of raids on Umbrella Hill, a defensive system guarding the approach to Gaza on the Palestinian border, that would lead to the eventual fall of the city later in the year.

The initial list of Luton men killed in the raids included Pte Percy Thurlow, of 216 Wellington Street, and Pte William Rhodes, of Reginald Street. Among the wounded was 2nd Lieut T. A. J. Coate, second son of the Rev H. Coate, Vicar of St Matthew's Church, Luton.

• Meanwhile, the casualty list from France and Flanders was continuing to grow. Among those names as killed or died of wounds were: Sgt Nelson Tom Pike, born at Someries Farm; Pte William Henry Brown, of 28 Park Street West, Luton; Pte Archie Smith, son of Mrs Elizabeth Smith, of 7 Gaitskill Road, Luton; and L-Cpl Jesse Goodge (Middlesex Regiment), of Darley Hall.

• Wounded: Pte Arthur P. Marsh (Bedfordshire Regiment), son of Mr and Mrs G. Marsh, of 30 St Ann's Road, Luton, dangerously wounded in the leg on July 14th in France. He had previously lost a finger in the Battle of Ypres in 1915.

• Wounded: Pte P. V. Toyer (Tyneside Scottish Regiment), of 58 Russell Street, Luton, wounds in the head and arms in a bayonet charge, and dysentery. He was formerly a member of West Ward Rangers FC.

• Wounded: Sgt William Lake (Princess Patricia's Own Regiment - Canadians), whose parents live at Tea Green, in hospital at Portsmouth with serious wounds in the back of the neck and spine.

• Of a particularly sad nature are the circumstances attending the death of Pte Sidney Albert Coe (Middlesex Regiment), of 40 Chiltern Rise, Luton. On Saturday Mrs Coe received a telegram informing her that her eldest son had been drowned while bathing at Hopton, near Gorleston, Norfolk, on July 28th. He got out of his depth and, despite the efforts of two men to save him, was carried out to sea by strong currents and lost. His body was found washed up by the tide early on the following Monday morning. Following an inquest, his body was conveyed to Luton for burial at the General Cemetery.

• A Luton victim of the HMS Vanguard disaster at Scapa Flow is AB Charles Johnson, son of Mrs Johnson, of 24 Ash Road, Luton. His untimely death took place after seven years service in the Navy.

• On Saturday the villages of Leagrave and Biscot were brightened by an effort on behalf of the Bedfordshire Regiment Comforts Fund. Mr Walter T. Lye undertook the organisation, and total proceeds were £13 5s 10½d.

• The number of cinema licences in Bedfordshire is 13, and they are allocated as follows: Bedford (where they have the time to go, but not the money) - 5; Luton (where they have the money but not the time) - 3; Biggleswade (where they have both money and time) - 2; Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard and Ampthill (where they have neither time nor money) - 1 each.

• A Post Office employee peering through the window in Cheapside saw smoke apparently coming from the lower premises of the National Telephone Exchange. The outbreak was in fact in a three-storey warehouse occupied by Messrs E. Cadwell & Co with straws and velours fuelling the flames. But prompt action by the Fire Brigade averted a potentially disastrous blaze with oil stored in close proximity at the rear of the premises of Gibbs & Dandy and abutting on to the warehouse, the first floor and roof of which were burnt out.

• Luton Town FC was facing a 1917-18 season without playing league football. The London Combination decided on Friday night to exclude provincial towns from the league. Watford, Southampton and Portsmouth were also being excluded, but Luton hoped that with the prospect of at least one London club dropping out that the club might stand a chance of inclusion. Luton had finished seventh in the London Combination in the 1916-17 season.