Pte Sidney Fensome, 60043, 26th Royal Fusiliers, is recorded as having been killed in action in Flanders on December 15th, 1916. He was aged 28, single and had enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers soon after the outbreak of war.

He had lived and worked at the Midland Hotel on the corner of Manchester Street and Williamson Street, Luton. The report of his death in The Luton News said his mother, Mrs Elizabeth Coles, of 35 Dorset Street, had received official intimation that her son had been killed in action on December 16th. He had been employed as 'boots' at the Midland Hotel for eight years. In the 1911 Census he is described as a billiard marker at the hotel.

Sidney was one of two sons born to Elizabeth Fensome before she married Arthur Coles in April 1891. In the 1891 Census taken just before their marriage Arthur was described as a boarder living with Elizabeth in Back Street. They had six children during the marriage.