Pte Frederick Titmuss, 67893, 7th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, was killed in action in Belgium on October 30th, 1917. He was the second son of George and Sarah Kate Titmuss, of 40 Milton Road, Luton, to have lost his life on the battlefield.

A letter to the parents from one of Frederick's chums said he had died a hero and it was the writer's regret that he was not with him at the end as they had been the closest of chums during the short time Frederick was out there.

"I gathered what information I could from the fellows. The captain was leading the boys over, and your son was following close behind when the captain was shot down by a sniper. Your son rushed forward to see if he could help him, and the same sniper brought him down. They both died within a few minutes."

Pte Titmuss, aged 19, had served with the 2/5th Battalion Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment before being transferred to the Royal Fusiliers. He had joined up only nine months earlier and been at the Front only six weeks.

Previously he had worked at George Kent Ltd and later at Lloyds Bank in Birmingham.

His brother Pte Alfred George Titmuss, aged 21, had served in the Bedfordshire Regiment in Gallipoli before being sent home. He returned to the battlefield and had been missing since the second Battle of Arras in France on April 23rd, 1917.

A third brother, Albert, had joined the Bedfords on the outbreak of war and was wounded in the hand at Gallipoli. He had since been discharged from the Army.