Details imported from Luton Absent Voters list 1918

Details imported from Luton Absent Voters list 1918

Details imported from Luton Absent Voters list 1918

My grandfather who served in the German army during WWI

Private Henry George Smith, was the son of Sidney and Susan Smith of Bedfordshire. Sidney was General foreman to Luton Borough Council, and Henry was a bricklayer.

Thomas Collier was born in Houghton Regis in 1890 and was one of eight children born to Edwin and Elizabeth Collier.  In 1914 he married Margaret Annie Reed in Luton and they had one son, Ralph.

He joined the army in December 1916 as a private in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps and, after training, was drafted to Salonika, serving at both Vardar and Monastir principally attending wounded and sick horses.

Harry Reed was my Grandfather who was born in Alford, Lincolnshire in 1892 & was the youngest of four children.  He married my Grandmother, Gertrude Goodrick, who also came from Lincolnshire in Kilburn, London in June 1916.  They moved to Luton & were living at Stopsley Farm where he was employed as a Rough Rider (horse breaker) at the time of his call up in November 1916.

John Raysons Davis was born in Luton in 1897 to Thomas John & Amma Louise.

In 1911 he is living at 3 Liverpool Road, Luton. His father is a straw & felt hat maker, his mother is a straw hat machinist working at home whilst looking after 3 year old Cyril & 7 month old Reginald James. John is 14 years old & working as an errand boy, whilst sisters Beatrice Louise, 12 & Constance Ruth, 7 are at school. They have 2 boarders also living with them, 78 year old Mary Ann Pestell & hat maker John Clarke, 47.

Gunner Ernest Stanley Rosson, 254727, 21st Reserve Battery Royal Field Artillery, was preparing to embark with a draft for France when he was taken ill with influenza. Pneumonia took over and he was taken to Shorncliffe Military Hospital in Kent, where he died eight days later.

17 year old Frank Cashmore died at Wardown Park V.A.D. Hospital on the 15th October 1914.

He was the son of James and Mary Ann Cashmore, of I, Arthur St., West Bromwich.

Sadly, he had served less than 6 months in the forces when he died, so his father recieved no payment upon death. 

James Edward Genn was born in Boughton, Nonchelsea in Kent in 1881 to James Billet Genn & Eliza, nee Potter.

In 1901 he 20 years old & is living in Kent with his mother, father, 5 brothers & 1 sister. His widowed grandmother, Lucy Potter, is also living with them. He is working as a bricklayer's labourer, the same occupation as his father. His 16 year old brother Frederick is a farm labourer.

George Stokes, was one of the first Luton-born casualties of the war to be reported missing in the pages of the Luton News. He was serving on HMS Amphion, the first Royal Navy ship to be sunk in the conflict. Launched in December 1911, the cruiser hit a mine on August 6th while defending the eastern approaches of the English Channel.

Percy James Pinnock, was one of the first Luton-born casualties of the war to be reported missing in the pages of the Luton News. He was serving on HMS Amphion, the first Royal Navy ship to be sunk in the conflict. Launched in December 1911, the cruiser hit a mine on August 6th while defending the eastern approaches of the English Channel.

Percy was born on the Old Bedford Road in June 1894, and was ranked as a stoker second-class.

Ronald Rootham, son of William and Anna Rootham of Harold Bedfordshire, served in India and the middle-east, and survived the war.

He is indicated by a dot on the group photograph uploaded below.

He married Dorothy Ward in 1923, and tragically died in 1934 aged only 35.

Charles Taylor served in the Royal Garrison Artillery in Salonika.  He was born in Luton 19880.  He and his wife Alice ran the Gardeners Call Public House in Luton for 50 years.