Who is she? asked The Luton News in its December 21st, 1916, edition. This picture of a child was picked up in some old buildings near the firing line on a battlefield in France.

• Wardown House in 1921.

Thanks to the generosity of friends at the V.A.D. Hospital at Wardown, the wounded soldiers had a happy time on Christmas Day.

Digest of stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: December 23rd, 1916.

Coroner Mr G. J. M. Whyley opened an inquest at the Court House at noon today into the circumstances surrounding the accident at Biscot Camp in which Gunner Jackson was fatally injured.

• Bedfords march from Luton at the start of World War One in 1914.

An article from The Morning Post newspaper paying tribute to the fine war record of the gallant men of the Bedfordshire Regiment on the Western Front was reproduced in the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph of December 23rd, 1916. It read:

Digest of stories from The Luton News: Thursday, December 21st, 1916.

A serious accident occurred at Biscot Camp yesterday when a trench mortar bomb exploded in the midst of certain training operations before it was timed to go off.

Digest of stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: December 16th, 1916.

This afternoon, amidst a widespread demonstration of mourning and sympathy, the funeral took place of the late Chief Constable (Mr David Teale). The scenes were most impressive.

• Headline from The Luton News, November 26th, 1953

Arthur James Billington, of 25 Hyde Road, Caddington, died on November 13th, 1953, at the age of 52. It was his proud claim that he was the youngest soldier to serve in the First World War.

Digest of stories from The Luton News: Thursday, December 14th, 1916.

Tribunals were hearing tales of woe from farmers who had lost male workers to enlistment in the forces and also from those who refused to allow or did not think woman could do the vacant jobs. But one family were proving that a woman's place was on the land.

The identity of a self-styled "Ambassador of God" who had sought exemption from military service over several months was finally revealed when he appeared at Luton Borough Police Court on Tuesday, December 12th, 1916. Having failed to take required work of national importance, William Dudlick John, aged 39, of 47 Biscot Road, was charged with being an absentee under the Military Service Act.

Digest of stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: December 9th, 1916.

Various reasons have been put forward for the non-ringing of church bells in the morning as well as the evening of Sunday, but we now learn from the Bishop of St Albans' monthly pastoral in the Diocesan Gazette of at least one which is authoritative.

Digest of stories from The Luton News: Thursday, December 7th, 1916.

Sunday was a red-letter day in the annals of the Salvation Army in Luton. It was the occasion of a visit by Mrs Booth, the wife of the head of the movement.

• New Bedford Road near the spot where two escaped German POWs were recaptured.

After a few hours of freedom and a tramp through the night along the country roads, two German prisoners of war who escaped from the internment camp at Woburn were arrested by two soldiers in Luton on the morning of Tuesday, November 28th, 1916.

Christmas 1916 was fast approaching - a third festive season at war. For many families there was mourning amid the celebrations for husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, lovers lost on the field of battle.

But Christmas would not be cancelled, and retailers were hoping to persuade Lutonians to part with their shillings and pence on goods they had on offer. There were toys, fashions and other gifts on offer.

Here are a selection of adverts that appeared in The Luton News in the two or three weeks in the run-up to Christmas 1916.