Lieut Sidney Charles Squires, 2/5th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, was killed in action in at Valenciennes in France on October 28th, 1918. He was a holder of the Belgian Croix de Guerre, awarded the previous February for intelligence work while with the Brigade staff.

He was the 22-year-old third son of Harry and Emily Wooler Squires, of Crafnant, Chapel Street (10 Farley Hill), Luton. His father was a director of hat manufacturers Welch & Sons, of Upper George Street.

Lieut Normal Sworder, Royal Air Force, died of wounds sustained in aerial combat over France on April 17th, 1918. His Luton-born wife Emily Murial was living at Burnham, Maidenhead, at the time.

A letter written by his Major to Emily said the aircraft in which Lieut Sworder was an observer was attacked by five enemy machines. The pilot had his right leg fractured by a bullet and lost control of his machine. Her husband was all the time firing at the enemy and got off in all 300 rounds, although himself wounded.

Lieut Frederick Charles Cook, RAF, died in the Empire Hospital, Victoria, London, on October 9th, 1919, as a result of wounds sustained in action over a year earlier. He was aged 21.

After being transferred from the 2nd Beds Regiment he gained a reputation in the RAF as being an expert bomber and the crack shot of his squadron, responsible for 'winging' several German machines.

Lieut Cyril Edward Franklin, East Anglian Royal Engineers, died on February 20th, 1917, from wounds sustained on the Somme. His widow Annie was reported to have received notification to that effect from the War Office the following day, although some records say "killed in action".

Cyril Franklin, who was just short of his 30th birthday, was the son of Edward and Elizabeth Franklin, of 57 Dale Road, Luton. Edward Franklin was an inspector with the Luton Borough Police, until he retired about two years previously and went to live in Stanbridge.

Lieut Ernest Isaac Barrow, 3rd Battalion South Lancashire Regiment attached to the 2nd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on October 23rd, 1916. He was aged 27 and before enlistment in at the outbreak of war had been an assistant master at Luton Modern School.

The eldest son of a JP at Westhoughton [near Bolton, Lancs], he was educated at Manchester Grammar School and Manchester University, where he gained a BSc degree. He was teaching in Penzance, Cornwall, before joining the staff of Luton Modern School in September 1911.

Lieut Arthur Hugh Johns, Royal Sussex Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 1st, 1916. Although born in Pembrokeshire, he was the son of the Rev Roger Owen Johns, who had been Pastor at Park Street Baptist Church, Luton, for about five years until shortly before World War One.

Arthur Johns, born on May 3rd, 1893, was employed by hat manufacturers Messrs J. C. Kershaw & Co until he joined the London Regiment in August1914. He was given a commission about 18 months before his death and had been in training until six months before.

Lieutenant Reginald Cumberland Green, 1st Beds Regiment, died on May 18th, 1916, within two hours of receiving a bullet wound in the thigh sustained while examining the wire entanglement in front of British trenches at Arras in France. He was aged 31 and the son of brewer Mr John W. Green and his wife Mary (Commandant of Wardown V.A.D. Hospital), of The Larches, New Bedford Road, Luton.

Lieut Edmund Wallis Beck, Acting Adjutant of the 8th Bedfordshire Regiment, died of wounds in hospital at Boulogne on January 9th, 1916. He had been seriously wounded near Ypres on December 19th, 1915, while giving warning of a gas attack. He was aged 26, born in Poona, India, on July 27th, 1889.

Before leaving England, Lieut Beck represented his regiment while dining with the King and Queen. He was educated at Bracondale School, Norwich, and Wellingborough, where he was captain of the 1st eleven, and he shot at Bisley for his school.

Lieut Nelson Johnstone, 2/2nd Midland Brigade Field Ambulance, R.A.M.C., stationed at Kings Lynn, died suddenly at Cambridge while undergoing an operation at a military hospital.

An Irishman aged 41, he had at the time of the 1901 Census been living with his first wife Frances, whom he married in Ireland in 1898, and baby daughter Kathleen at 76 Wellington Street, Luton, while he was a physician and surgeon involved with the Luton Medical Institute in Waller Street.

Lieut Stanley Burnet, 17th Training Squadron, Royal Air Force, died in a flying accident at Yatesbury, Wiltshire, on May 31st, 1918. He had joined the Royal Flying Corps on March 4th ahead of it becoming the RAF and earned his flying certificate in a Caudron Bi-Plane at Ruffy-Baumann school in Acton.

Lieutenant Edmund Elgood Punchard, son of a former Vicar of Christ Church, Luton, was killed in action with the 2nd Battalion Beds Regt (21st Brigade, 7th Division) at Ypres on October 31st, 1914. He had just celebrated his 24th birthday.

He was shot leading his platoon in an attack on a ridge near Zandvoorde and was buried at Kruiseck, near Gheluvelt [Geluveld]. He was mentioned in Sir John French's despatch on January 14th, 1915.

Lieutenant John Wilfrid Staddon of the East Surrey Regiment was the eldest son of John Henry Staddon, the Mayor of Luton & his wife Kate Elizabeth.

During an evening sitting of the local Tribunal at the Town Hall on 20th September 1916 the Mayor received some news. This was reported in the Luton News the next day. (see attached pdf)

On 29th November 1910 John was accepted as a student of civil engineering working in the Borough Engineers Dept, Town Hall, Catford.

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Details imported from Luton Absent Voters list 1918

Details imported from Luton Absent Voters list 1918