Cpl Henry Lewis Hill, 10092, 2nd Battalion Beds Regiment, was killed in France on March 14th, 1916, when fragments of shell entered a cellar in which he and other men were sheltering. A second man was also killed while the remainder escaped unhurt.

Cpl Hill, who was 24, joined the Bedfords in 1912 and was serving with the 2nd Battalion in South Africa when war was declared. He had been in France since October 1914.

He was one of three soldier sons of William and Emma Hill, of 17 Cobden Street, Luton, and was a straw hat dyer before enlisting. His parents were later living at 12 New Town Street, Luton.

Pte H. Bacchus [1], another Luton man in the 2nd Bedfords, wrote to Mrs Hill on March 16th: "I am sorry to tell you that your dear son Louis (sic) was killed on Tuesday night, March 14th, at 7.50. We were in defence billets and were shelled out. One shell burst into the place where we were lying and killed poor Louis straight out. He died very peacefully, and never spoke. We buried him respectfully on Wednesday afternoon in a little cemetery just behind the firing line. We were always chums together."

[1] Probably Pte Harry Bacchus, 9272, of 17 Langley Place, Luton, who would himself be killed on June 29th, 1916, and be buried at the same location as Cpl Hill. Both are included in the Luton Roll of Honour.