Luton's People 1914-1918
This page contains a list of soldiers/civilians from Luton and surroundings 1914-1918, and the ancestors of people who live in Luton today. It has been compiled from the 1918 Luton Absent Voters List, Rolls of Honour; and information researched and uploaded by project volunteers and members of the public.
If you find your ancestor here, and there is only basic information available, then feel free to use the comment box to add further information you may already know. The WWI Project Team, can then add this further information to the basic data we already hold.
The sources of this information can be found via the links below. Please feel free to download and use this information, but please please search for and upload your ancestor to the site if/when you find them:-
Absent Voters List
Luton Roll of honour
Before adding anybody to the site, it is always advisable to search for your ancestor first.
Nelson Charles Edward Galton was born in January 1892 in Holloway, London. He was baptised on 22nd May 1892 at St Matthews Church, Oakley Square in St Pancras. He was the eldest child of Charles Nelson & Emily Elizabeth, living at 45 Finchley Road, Camberwell.
Enlisted 9th September 1914
Married May Goodge in summer of 1902.
Died of sceptic ulceration of the mouth, nephritis (kidney disease) and toxoemia in December 1919 at Bute Hospital Luton.
Cyril George served aboard HMS President, an honoarary title awarded to training ships serving with the London Reserve Division.
Thomas Charles Stokes, a corporation labourer , was married to Martha Stokes, and father to Robert. They lived in Windsor Street Luton.
Charles was born in 1893 in Ampthill, and was to be found living with his grandparents on High Street Silsoe, at the time of the 1901 and 1911 Census.
Died along with his brother on the same day during the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign.
Died along with his brother on the same day during the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign.
Son of George and Ann Carter, brother to Harry, Ann, Matilda, Timothy, Frank, Walter and Thomas Carter.
William Thomas Panter, Pte/Cpl, (or bill as he was known), joined the army on 2nd Feb 1914 at Kempston Barracks, which covered a considerable area in those days, (just the main entrance building remains today).
My Grandfather, Robert Wright, volunteered to join the army on 12 June 1914 – the day before his 26th birthday. This was clearly before hostilities had been declared, but by this time it was looking more and more certain that a war was approaching.
Having served from 1908 to 1913 in the Territorial Army (Army No. 1554) with 54th Div. RE, Sydney Brown enlisted in the Royal Engineers in November 1914. Between 1914 and 1918 he served with various units (Army No.
Charles Smith Neale, a hat packer by trade before the War, enlisted into the Army in December 1915, and was posted into the Army Veterinary Corps (Army No. 16205). He was later posted to the RFA (Army No. 155728). He was discharged in May 1918 as "no longer physically fit for war service".
Frederick Howard Harman was a son of George Edward Harman and his wife Amelia (formerly Shoosmith), who lived at 20 Stockwood Crescent, Luton. He had been born in 1883 in Southampton, and had married in 1909, moving to Watford to live.
Archibald (Archie) Odell was an older brother of my paternal grandmother (he was my great-uncle). He was enlisted at St Albans into the 24th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regt. (The Queen's) on 4 September 1914, aged 29. He was posted as a Private (Army No.
Herbert John Odell (a nephew of my great-grandfather, and my first cousin twice removed!) was born in 1892, and like his father John (with whom he lived at 25 North Street, Luton) was a plasterer by trade.
My first cousin twice removed (his father, John Barrett, was a brother of my great-grandmother), Ernest Ethelred Barrett had been a house-painter at the time of the 1911 census of Luton, aged 16, living in the family home at 53 Hibbert Street.
Private Betts of Ashton Road Luton served with the Mounted Field Ambulance Division of the Royal Army Medical Corps. He arrived at Gallipoli on 7th October 1915 and died of wounds on 10th October 1915.
James Clarke of Tavistock St, Dunstable served 12 years with the Royal Navy before transferring to the Royal Navy Reserve in 1908. When WW1 commenced the thirty six year old was called up to to serve aboard HMS Hogue which was part of a patrol of armoured cruisers in the North Sea.
Lance Corporal Huggins served with the 8th Bedfordshire Regiment in France from August 1915 and he survived the war.
Private Turner served with the 5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment in Gallipoli and was wounded in August 1915. His family donated photographs and papers to Wardown Museum and these will be on display in the WW1 exhibition from 5th August 2014.
Private Hudson served with the 5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment in Gallipoli in August 1915. His family donated his pocket diary to the Wardown Museum and it will be on display at the WW1 exhibition from 5th August 2014.
Charles Taylor served in the Royal Garrison Artillery in Salonika. He was born in Luton 19880. He and his wife Alice ran the Gardeners Call Public House in Luton for 50 years.
Ronald Rootham, son of William and Anna Rootham of Harold Bedfordshire, served in India and the middle-east, and survived the war.
He is indicated by a dot on the group photograph uploaded below.
He married Dorothy Ward in 1923, and tragically died in 1934 aged only 35.
Percy James Pinnock, was one of the first Luton-born casualties of the war to be reported missing in the pages of the Luton News. He was serving on HMS Amphion, the first Royal Navy ship to be sunk in the conflict.
George Stokes, was one of the first Luton-born casualties of the war to be reported missing in the pages of the Luton News. He was serving on HMS Amphion, the first Royal Navy ship to be sunk in the conflict.
James Edward Genn was born in Boughton, Nonchelsea in Kent in 1881 to James Billet Genn & Eliza, nee Potter.
17 year old Frank Cashmore died at Wardown Park V.A.D. Hospital on the 15th October 1914.
He was the son of James and Mary Ann Cashmore, of I, Arthur St., West Bromwich.
Gunner Ernest Stanley Rosson, 254727, 21st Reserve Battery Royal Field Artillery, was preparing to embark with a draft for France when he was taken ill with influenza. Pneumonia took over and he was taken to Shorncliffe Military Hospital in Kent, where he died eight days later.
John Raysons Davis was born in Luton in 1897 to Thomas John & Amma Louise.
Harry Reed was my Grandfather who was born in Alford, Lincolnshire in 1892 & was the youngest of four children. He married my Grandmother, Gertrude Goodrick, who also came from Lincolnshire in Kilburn, London in June 1916. They moved to Luton & were living at Stopsley Farm where he was
Cecil Bisshopp Harmsworth represented the Liberal Party as MP for South Beds, including Luton, from 1911 until he retired from the House of Commons in 1922.
Thomas Collier was born in Houghton Regis in 1890 and was one of eight children born to Edwin and Elizabeth Collier. In 1914 he married Margaret Annie Reed in Luton and they had one son, Ralph.
Private Henry George Smith, was the son of Sidney and Susan Smith of Bedfordshire. Sidney was General foreman to Luton Borough Council, and Henry was a bricklayer.
My grandfather who served in the German army during WWI
Details imported from Luton Absent Voters list 1918
Details imported from Luton Absent Voters list 1918
Details imported from Luton Absent Voters list 1918
Details imported from Luton Absent Voters list 1918