Pte Arthur Carter, 203264, 1/4th Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, was reported missing following a raid on June 11th, 1917, according to a letter writer at the Front. Officially his death is recorded as having happened on June 12th.

"I am very much afraid he is killed," said the writer, "as under the circumstances it is very unlikely he was taken prisoner. It was impossible to bring back our dead owing to the number of wounded."

For two-and-a-half anxious years, the family of Pte Reuben Joseph Wilmot, 10491, 2nd Battalion Border Regiment, knew nothing of his fate. Finally, in June 1917, his half-sister Ada Elizabeth, then living at 118 Chapel Street, Luton, learned that he had been taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans near Ypres on October 26th, 1914, and sadly had died from an old bullet wound while still in captivity on March 17th, 1917.

Gunner Herbert Butterfield, 101907, 217th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery, was killed in action in France on June 5th, 1917. He was aged 34.

He had joined up in July 1916 and went to France the following January after nerly seven months of training. The last that his widow Rose Ellen, of 109 Cowper Street, Luton, had heard from him was in May 1917 while his battery was resting.

Sgt Albert William (Bert) Mead, 22714, 142nd Company Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), died in Flanders on June 16th, 1917, from wounds sustained in action the previous day. The holder of the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal, he had been mentioned in despatches on several occasions.

Archibald George Whitelock was born in Canning Town, London in 1886, 1 of 9 children born to William & Elizabeth.

On 9th September 1914 whilst living at 91 Ridgeway Road, Luton, Archibald enlisted into the Royal Engineers (523029) as an electrician. He took his electricians' test with the Biscot Road works for Commercial Cars. He later worked for Vauxhall Motors.

In April 1915 he married Helen A Stone in Luton.

William Alfred Carter was born in Luton in 1878, 1 of 11 children born to Alfred & Harriet.

In 1911 he is living with his 61 year old parents at 52 Dumfries Street he is 33 years old & William & his father are both working as general labourers.

On 6th July 1915 William joined the Army Service Corps as a horse driver. On 15th February 1916 William was posted, as part of the British Expeditionary Force, to France but shortly after arriving he became ill with an ulceration of the stomach.

Pte Claude Ernest Pratt, 14855, 13th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, died in a casualty clearing station on June 9th, 1917, from abdomen wounds sustained earlier in the day in the Messines fighting.

A hospital chaplain wrote to parent James Albon and Ellen Louise Pratt at 21 Peach Street, Luton, with the news. He said he had laid their son to rest with several others on June 10th in a cemetery surrounded by hops and growing corn some miles behind the lines - a very peaceful spot.

Pte Walter George Smith, 40356, 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 8th, 1917. He was aged 21.

In a letter of sympathy to parents George and Harriet Smith at 49 Hampton Road, Luton, Second Lieut W. A. Fletcher wrote: "Your son, Pte W. G. Smith, was killed yesterday evening, June 8th,. He was on a working party up in the front line and was hit on the back by a piece of shrapnel. It pierced his heart, and the doctor told me that death must have been instantaneous."

Gunner Frederick George Charge, 102343, 212th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery, was one of six men killed by a single German shell in Flanders on June 8th, 1917.

Gunner Charge, who had served through the Boer War and wore the South African medals, had been in France for six months. He joined up again on July 10th, 1916,

He had married Millie Cooper at Christ Church, Luton, on April 3rd, 1915, and the couple were living at 109 Maple Road, Luton. They had no children.

Sgt John McPheat, 35986, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action at Messines on June 7th, 1917. He was aged 36.

Born in Perth, Scotland, he enlisted as a volunteer at Luton at the outbreak of war. He served with the 1/5th Bedfords (No. 2961) at Gallpoli, from the Suvla Bay landing to the evacuation of the peninsular. He was finally invalided home suffering from shell shock and dysentery to recover in England before leaving Halton for France with the 2nd Bedfords in January 1917. He fought at Ypres and Messines.

Rifleman Arthur Robinson, 42129, 8th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, was killed in action in Flanders on June 7th, 1917. He and his family had moved to Hammersmith, London, just before the war after living at 238 Ridgway Road, Luton.

He enlisted in early 1916 at Hammersmith into the King's Royal Rifles (26176) before being transferred to the Royal Irish Rifles. He had worked at Hayward Tyler during his time in Luton.

Arthur Robinson was aged 38. He had married Florence Day in Luton in 1898 and they had three daughters - Florence Lilian, Doris and Gladys Irene.

Sapper Reuben Edward Parris, 524535, 105th Field Company Royal Engineers, was killed in action at Messines Ridge on June 6th, 1917.

Official notification of his death from the War Office reached his widow Elizabeth at their home at 81 Ash Road, Luton, ten days later. The couple had arrived in Luton from Coventry, where they were living at the time of the 1911 Census. Reuben first worked at George Kent's before becoming a foreman moulder at the Skefko Works and then returning to work at Kent's.

Pte Bertram Norman Birchmore, 47452, 23rd Northumberland Fusiliers, died as a prisoner of war of the Germans on May 4th, 1917. He had been captured with a back wound and in a delirious state on April 29th. He was aged 29.

His widow Gertrude, of 34 Ivy Road, Luton, had been appealing for information about what had happened to her missing husband. It was more than four months before official information arrived that he had died as a prisoner of war.

Pioneer Harry Manning, 206755, 'L' Special Company Royal Engineers, died in the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station in France on June 3rd, 1917, after being gassed on he battlefield. He was aged 20.

A week before his death Pioneer Manning had been drafted into the same company as his father, Pioneer William George Manning (128912), who was able to see him in hospital before he died. He was also present at his son's burial in a nearby cemetery.

Sgt Albert Mullett, 19166, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders on June 2nd, 1917. He was in charge of a Lewis gun company.

In a letter to parents William Frederick and Emily Mullett, of 142 Castle Street, Luton, his commanding officer wrote: "We were heavily shelled in the early hours, and he went off with a Lewis gun and team to a piece of trench isolated by two blocks, the outcome of the bombardment. Just after he had arrived a shell blew in the parapet and he, poor man, was pinned between two pieces of rivetting timber, and died there at once.