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.
Charles Edward Payne was born in Luton in 1866. He married Sarah Ann Howe in 1892.
Frederick Pearson was 1 of 7 children born to Alfred & Sophia in Luton in 1869.
His father was a master saddler, his older brother Charles was also in the family trade as a journeyman saddler, but Frederick did not follow in their footsteps as he joined the Army.
Henry Isaac Pearson was born in Luton in October 1894 to Frederick & Sarah Minnie.
Edgar William Bright was born in Leicester in 1879, only child of William Bright & Sarah Bannister Bright.
Pte John Crew, 10479, 2nd* Battalion Beds Regiment, died on May 17th, 1915, from wounds sustained at the battle of Festubert.
Son of the late Charles George Fowler. Born in London.
Buried in Luton Church Burial Ground (Crawley Green Road).
Pte Frank Parker, 5028, 18th (Queen Mary's Own) Hussars, was killed in action on May 13th, 1915. His widow and four children then lived at 16 Edward Street, Luton.
The story of Second-Lieutenant John (Jack) Hobbs, the son of a Toddington butcher, was one of heroism, romance and tragedy. It culminated in the posthumous award of the Military Cross, gained for gallant and distinguished service in the field on May 31st, 1915.
Albert Giddins was 1 of 8 children born to Charles & Maria. He was born in Harpenden, Hertfordshire in 1878.
Patrick Grogan was born in Ireland in 1885. He came from a large Roman Catholic family, 1 of 9 children born to Paul, a farmer & Maria.
William John Long was born in Woburn in August 1875. He was 1 of 9 children born into the large Roman Catholic family of Arthur & Mary.
His father & elder brother Samuel were carpenters & joiners, so William followed into the family business.
Frederick Albert Maddocks was born Frederick Albert Armison in July 1892 in Shardlow, Derbyshire. His mother Harriett married Joseph Maddocks when Frederick was 2 years old. Harriett then went on to have 4 children with Joseph.
Pte Alfred James Ellingham, 3915, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 16th, 1915, and has no known grave. He was the son of John and Sarah Jane Ellingham, of 39 Hibbert Street, Luton.
Saddler Albert Walter Bunker, 1779, 2/1st (East Anglian) Field Company, was killed in action in Gallipoli on August 21st*, 1915. He was aged 20.
Luton's first reported Territorial non-commissioned fatality of the Gallipoli campaign, Pte Cyril Bert Barton, 3120, 1/5th Battalion Beds Regt, died on August 17th, 1915, from wounds received in action.
Pte Edward Anderson, 4386, A Company, 1/5th Beds Regiment, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915. He was aged 30. First reports had said he had been very badly wounded, both his legs having been smashed.
Pte Alexander Graves, 4489, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th*, 1915. He was aged 27 and the son of Mr Henry Graves, of 5 Ferndale Road, Luton.
Pte Charles Bacchus, 4414, A Company, 1/5th Beds Regt, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915. He was aged 28.
Pte Frederick William Thurlow, 2762, 1/5th Bedfordshires, died on August 17th, 1915, of wounds sustained at Gallipoli. He was aged 22 and, according to newspaper reports, had been a moulder at Brown and Green's in Windsor Street, Luton.
Pte Alfred Smith, 4275, 1st Battalion Beds Regt, was killed in action at Gallipoli on Sunday, August 15th*, 1915. He left a widow and two young children, one a baby he had never seen, at 29 Park Road West, Luton [now Strathmore Avenue].
Pte Alfred Richard ("Tommy") Cousins, 4461, 1/5th Beds Regt, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 22nd, 1915. He was aged 20, just a few days short his 21st birthday.
Sgt Albert Hinks, 2382, B Company, 1/5th Beds Regt, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 16th, 1915. It marked a double tragedy for his widow Clara Elizabeth, who lost her baby just a week before the sergeant sailed for the Dardanelles.
Pte John (#James) Stenhouse, 3553, 1/5th Bedfords, died on a hospital ship on August 18th* from wounds sustained at Gallipoli two days previously. He was buried on "an unnamed island at which the ship called" that later was revealed as Lemnos (East Mudros Military Cemetery).
Pte Leonard Hurd, 3449, 1/5th Bedfords, died on August 16th from wounds sustained at Gallipoli the previous day. The only son of Charles and Elizabeth Hurd, of 32 Beech Road, Luton, he was aged 19 and had been employed at the Diamond Foundry, Dallow Road.
Pte Charles John Ambridge, 3500, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915. Born at Wavendon in late 1891, he was the only son of Alfred and Louisa Ambridge, who were living at 74 Dane Road, Luton, in 1915.
Rifleman James Burgess, 11650, 4th King's Royal Rifle Corps, died on March 10th, 1915, from wounds sustained in the trenches near Givenchy earlier that day.
Pte Horace George Chapman, 2678, 1st/24th London Regiment, was killed in action in a charge at Givenchy on May 26th, 1915. Born in Luton, he was aged 24 and was the son of Harry and Sarah Elizabeth Chapman, of 31 Ashburnham Road.
Pte Albert Edward Blaydon, 5073, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 16th, 1915. He was aged 18 and the youngest son of Sidney and Mary Lily Blaydon, of The Knapps, Toddington Road, Leagrave, and is commemorated on the Leagrave War Memorial.
Sgt William Henry Foster, 2958, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 17th, 1915. He was the son of William Foster, who were living at 2 Bolton Road, Luton, at the time.
Lance-Sgt Albert Payne, 2289, 1/5th Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915 - on the same battlefield and same day that a younger brother, Cpl Nathan Payne, aged 21, also died.
Cpl Nathan Payne, 3457, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915 - one the same day that an older brother, L-Sgt Albert Payne, aged 27, also died.
Pte Frank Rimmer, 4085, A Company, 1/5th Battalion Beds Regt, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 16th, 1915. He was the son of Mr Edmund Rimmer, Secretary of the Luton Co-operative Society, who lived at 153 Tennyson Road, Luton.
Pte Harold Frederick Puddephatt, 3066, A Company, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action on August 15th*, 1915. He was aged 21.
L-Cpl Rowland Abbott, 4025, 1/5th Bedfords, died on August 21st, 1915, from wounds sustained at Gallipoli. Newspaper reports said he was aged 44.
Pte Cyril Snoxell, 3099, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action on August 16th*, 1915, at Gallipoli. He was aged 18 and the son of Alfred Snoxell, of 84 Grange Road [now St Peter's Road], Luton.