Pte Harold Edward Steevens Phillips, 8344, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was posted missing, later presumed killed in action, on March 21st, 1918, at the start of the German spring offensive on the Somme.

Shortly before being missed, Ted, as he was known, was escorting prisoners when heavy shell and machine gun fire broke out and the escort were ordered to take cover. Since then there had been no trace of him.

Luton-born Pte Phillips was in military barracks in the Caribbean at the time of the 1911 Census, and was called up when war broke out. He took part in the retreat from Mons and many of the big later battles, being wounded three times.

The son of Alfred Edward and Mary Elizabeth Phillips, of 30 Cromwell Road, Luton, he had married Mary Underwood in Leighton Buzzard in 1915. His wife's address at the time of his death was Brettenham House, Beach Station Road, Felixstowe. Her family address was in Watford.