Ordinary Seaman William Harold Burrows, J/36685, Royal Navy, met an accidental death while serving on HMS Dido on May 10th, 1917. He was aged 19.

A letter from the ship's captain to parents George Ernest and Eliza Burrows at 4 Naseby Road, Luton, said: "I very much regret to inform you that your son fell overboard from a boat attached to H.M. Ship Dido, under my command, and was drowned. The coxswain and crew made every possible effort to rescue him but, unfortunately, without success. I regret to add that the body has not yet been recovered." [His body was eventually recovered and buried at Shotley St Mary Churchyard, near Harwich.]

Born in Islington, London, on January 4th, 1898, he had joined the Royal Navy as a boy sailor in 1915 and became an ordinary seaman the following year. His family moved to Luton after the 1911 Census, when they were shown living in Stevenage.