Pte Alfred Joshua Brown, 3/7316, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Festubert on May 14th, 1915. He was aged 20.

Parents Archer and Elizabeth Brown, of 27 Cobden Street, Luton, were told in a letter from Cpl A. W. Joyce, C Company, 2nd Bedfordshires, that on the afternoon of May 14th they had been under heavy shell fire.

"One burst in our trench and a piece hit your son," he wrote. "All that could be done for him was done, but within a few minutes he had passed away. The same evening about five o'clock he was laid to rest, being buried in an orchard near some ruined farmhouses."

Cpl Joyce said the same evening he made a cross on which he placed the inscription "In loving memory of Pte A. J. Brown, 2nd Beds Regt, killed in action, May 14th, 1915. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away". He also laid flowers he had managed to get hold of, on behalf of his parents and brother (Archer) and sister (Clara).

Pte Brown had been at the front for six months. Two years previously he joined the Special Reserves of the Bedfordshire Regiment, and later was transferred to the 2nd Battalion. He previously worked for Mr S. B. Hubbard in Luton.

As a schoolboy he played football for Hitchin Road School and later for other clubs in Luton.

Before moving to 27 Cobden Street the family had lived at 20 Burr Street, Luton.