Cpl William John Andrews, 22020, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in an attack on the Schwaben Redoubt, near Thiepval on the Somme, on September 28th, 1916.

He was aged 17 and not legally compelled to have been on the battlefield. He was also wearing two stripes to indicate that he had previously been wounded.

L-Cpl A. Bellamy, a friend who was beside William when he died wrote to parents John and Beatrice Mary Andrews, at 4 Hartley Road, Luton, to say their son died immediately he was hit. "As I was by his side I know he did not suffer any pain."

A parcel Mr and Mrs Andrews had sent to their son was distributed among other members of his platoon, as William had wished.

Born in Hatfield, the young soldier had joined up on his 16th birthday and went into training at Ampthill. He was the eldest of six children and had been previously apprenticed to the joinery trade with Mr Davis, of Church Street, Luton. He was also a member of St Matthew's Church, High Town.

At the time of the 1911 Census,the Andrews family were living at Marsom Terrace [now in St Thomas's Road], Stopsley. William's father was a farm labourer and his mother a midwife. His sisters were Elsie May, Lillian, Olive Joan and Mary Louisa and his brother was Joseph.