2nd Lieutenant

The lowest rank of commissioned officer. Note that a Subaltern is a term applied to any officer below the rank of captain, especially a second lieutenant. Derivation from Latin related to the word for alternate.  Until 1871 the lowest commissioned rank was the Ensign in the Infantry and Cornet in the Cavalry - both names derived from French words signifying standard bearers. The Fusilier regiments, having no company colours, had First and Second Lieutenants anyway. The Fusiliers abolished the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1834. Between 1871-1877 the lowest was the Sub Lieutenant, after which today's Second Lieutenant rank was established.

2nd Lieutenant Omar Sinfield

Omar Sinfield donates a prize at the 1917 Regimental Sports Day held at Wardown Park. He was posted to the R.F.A. Camp at Biscot, Luton. A photograph of him was dontated to the project by a volunteer at Wardown Park, and the following information has been coalated from find my past, and other sources.

Omar W.D. Sinfield was born in 1883, and was married in 1907 to Mabel. He was a dyer of Straw Plait, and was living in Grove Road Luton.

He had 2 children, Phyllis born in 1908, and Stuart born in 1910.

2nd Lieutenant Frederick Lewis Pedley

From The Luton News 9th January 1917. FROM THE RANKS.  Another Brave Lutonian Receives a Commission. We are  pleased to announce that Pte Frederick Lewis Pedley, son of Mrs Pedley of 73 Conway Road Luton, has been gazetted to a commission. Pte Pedley, it may be remembered was one of a number of young Lutonians, many of them well known in sporting, social and religious life in Luton, who enlisted in the 24th County of London Regiment (The Queen's) on September 5th 1914. They joined the British Expeditionary Force in March 1915 and have since figured conspicuously in very severe fighting.

2nd Lieutenant Charles Samuel Irons

Charles Samuel Irons was born in January 1898 in Luton, the only child of Samuel & Beatrice.

In 1911 Charles is living with his builder father & mother at 60a Park Street. The head of the household is Arthur Funnell, Beatrice's father, (Charles' grandfather) who is a furniture dealer.

An article in the Luton News on 20th February 1919 tells us that Charles was awarded the Military Cross, but could not give much detail. A report in The London Gazette dated 9th December that year reveals more information:

2nd Lieutenant Hubert Douglas Stratford

Hubert Douglas Stratford was born in Luton in 1889, the son of Edward Douglas and Kate Stratford. His father was an auctioneer and land agent living at 33 Downs Road, Luton.

He first enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers (36056), being promoted to lance-corporal before gaining a commission with the 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards in February 1917. He went to France the following August and returned to England in October 1917 after being wounded. He went back to France on Easter Sunday 1918, a fortnight before his death.

2nd Lieutenant Frank Gilbert Hurrell Small MM

Second Lieut Frank Gilbert Hurrell Small, 47th Battalion Machine Gun Corps, died in hospital on June 9th, 1918, from blood poisoning following the amputation of his left leg in the Cassel internment camp in Germany. He had been taken prisoner on March 24th at Ypres in Belgium and was buried in the camp cemetery.

Following release as a prisoner of war at Mainz in 1919, Lieut Ernest Henry Taylor (Machine Gun Corps) sent a letter to widow Grace Short and told of the events of March 1918 that eventually led to her husband's death, also as a prisoner of war.

2nd Lieutenant Maurice Henry Steff

Details imported from Luton Absent Voters list 1918. Also included in National Roll of the Great War Section V (Luton).

The National Roll details (usually submitted by the family) describe Lieut Steff as "Volunteering in Sept 1914 with the RNAS, he was engaged on important patrol duties and served in the battle of Jutland in HMS Inflexible. Later he was transferred to the Mediterranean and patrolled the region of the Aegean Islands and was sent to Constantinople with the Army of Occupation. He was still serving in 1920."

2nd Lieutenant Tom Edwin Adlam V.C.

Tom Edwin Adlam was born at Waterloo Gardens in Salisbury, on the 21st October 1893, the son of John and Evangeline Adlam. Following his education at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury, he joined the Territorial Force in September 1912, and in November 1915 was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Bedfordshire Regiment.

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