Second Lieut William Samuel Scruby, 12th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action near Thiepval on the Somme on September 26th, 1916. He was aged 25 and had planned to marry during his next leave.

He had joined the Coldstream Guards in the ranks (Pte 11338) at the outbreak of war and only received his commission three months before his death in recognition of meritorious conduct in the field. He was gazetted to the Middlesex Regiment.

Pte James Hubert Mimms, 14405, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 28th, 1916.

Born in Luton in 1892, he was the son of William Mimms and wife Sarah Ann (nee Hughes), of 11 Peach Street, Luton. In the 1911 Census James was described as a toolmaker living at home with his parents, four brothers and a sister.

A sergeant wrote that all the men at one gun had been knocked out, except Pte Mimms, who was ordered to another spot.He did not arrive.

Cpl William John Andrews, 22020, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in an attack on the Schwaben Redoubt, near Thiepval on the Somme, on September 28th, 1916.

He was aged 17 and not legally compelled to have been on the battlefield. He was also wearing two stripes to indicate that he had previously been wounded.

Temporary Sec-Lieut Herbert George Merchant, 9th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment attached to the 7th Battalion, was killed in action on the Somme on September 28th, 1916. He was aged 22.

Pte Ernest William Furr, 3/7722, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 27th, 1916.

Born in Stopsley in 1897, he was the son of Selina and the late Alfred Furr, who in 1911 were living at Ramridge End with the surviving 12 of their 16 children. Alfred died in 1913, after which Selina and family moved to Hitchin Road, Luton.

In a 1915 street directory Selina is shown as living at 440 Hitchin Road, and on the Luton Roll of Honour commemorating Ernest the address is given as 454 Hitchin Road.

Company Sgt Major Arthur Fountain, 15400, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 27th, 1916.

Born in Markyate in 1881, he was a son of the late William Richard and Sarah Ann Fountain,of Luton Road, Markyate. He enlisted on September 7th, 1914, and had served at the Front without a scratch for about 18 months, with just one brief spell of home leave.

Pte Percy George Lane, 14614, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 27th, 1916. He was aged 22 and the only son of George and Elizabeth Lane, of 212 High Town Road, Luton.

Born in Coleshill, Amersham, Bucks, he was familiarly known as 'Mandy' to football comrades in Luton Victoria Rangers FC. Prior to enlistment he was a moulder at the Borough Engineering Works in Luton.

Pte Arthur Dumpleton, 27845, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 25th, 1916.

Born in 1877 at Stopsley, he was a son of Daniel and Ann Dumpleton. He was living with his then widower father in Gardenia Avenue, Leagrave, at the time of the 1911 Census and, like his parent, had become a gamekeeper. Daniel was bailiff at Little Bramingham Farm in 1881 and gamekeeper at Wigmore Hall Farm in 1891, when the family lived at Ramridge End Cottage. Both father and son were gamekeepers at Little Bramingham Farm in 1901.

Henry Ewart Rawlings was born in 1886 in Cricklewood, Middlesex. 1 of 5 children born to Sarah & George, a railway engine driver.

In 1911 he is living with his family at 106 Chetwynd Road, Highgate, London, he is 25 years old & working as a railway clerk.

His mother Sarah is 55 & widowed, elder brother George is 28 a motor car engine fitter & younger brother Jack is a general clerk for a antiques dealer. They have a lodger living with them, 17 year old Sidney Beck who is working as a boy clerk for the government.

Pte William Brooks, 43555, 182nd Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), was killed in action on the Somme on September 24th, 1916. He was aged 35 and left a widow,Annie, and four children - Baden, Edith, Elsie and Madge.

Pte Sidney George Peters, 26088, 9th Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, died on September 9th, 1916, from wounds sustained in action on the Somme.

The news about their eldest son reached his father George and mother Alice at their home in Bury Road [now St Thomas's Road], Stopsley, two weeks later through an army chaplain at the No 36 Casualty Clearing Station in France. The wounds Sidney had sustained were so grievous that moving him was an impossibility, they learned.

L-Cpl Joshua Dyer, G/14527, 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, died in Netley Hospital, near Southampton, on September 22nd, 1916, after being severely wounded on the Western Front. He had transferred from the Bedfordshire Regiment.

The 19-year-old son of Frederick Henry and Mary Jane Dyer, of the White House, Pepperstock, had been lying wounded in the back by a shell on the battlefield a day and a night before a compassionate Scotsman got him into a dressing station. He was transferred to Netley, where he died three days later.

Pte Thomas James Swain, 18970, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was killed in action on the Somme on or shortly after September 10th, 1916. He was aged 21.

The son of Luton Corporation employee Arthur Swain and his wife Jane, of 30 Arthur Street, Luton,

he had enlisted in August 1914. Previously he had been employed for 18 months by Messrs Powdrill.

Pte Harold Ronald Kempson, 43563, 140th Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), died on September 22nd, 1916, from wounds sustained in action on the Somme. He was aged 34 and had lived at 18 Inkerman Street, Luton.

Born in Luton in 1882, the son of David and Elizabeth Kempson, he had married Florence Mary (nee Going) in 1909. In 1911 the couple were living at 20 Hampton Road, Luton, with their 10-month-old son Albert Edward. At the time Ronald, as he was known, was a straw hat machinist. He had previously served in the Beds Regiment (5323).

Pte William Fensome, 21426, 12th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, died at a casualty clearing station in France on September 20th, 1916, from wounds sustained on the battlefield the previous day.

The Battalion was a 'Bantam' unit to which William was able to join in September 1915 after failing a height test to enlist in other regiments earlier. He was therefore below the regulation 5ft 3in in height.