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.
Pte George Summerlin, 30601, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Arras on May 3rd, 1917. He was aged 26.
Pte Archie Walter Patten, 32151, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died in Etaples Hospital, France, on May 4th, 1917, from serious wounds sustained in the Battle of Arras on April 23rd. He was single and aged 24.
Pte Edward Anstee, 30849, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Arras on May 3rd, 1917. He was aged 35.
No report of his death appears to have been published in the local Press at the time. He was born around 1881 and married Louisa Fox in Luton in 1900.
L-Cpl John Thomas Longden, 13234, 10th Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, was killed in action in France on April 28th, 1917.
Pte William Hankin, 307038, 2/7th Battalion Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment), was killed in action in France on May 3rd, 1917. Older brother, Alfred (Beds Regiment), had died from wounds in France on October 30th, 1914.
Pte Victor Freeman Baxter, 33013, 8th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was killed in action near Arras on May 3rd, 1917. He died just days before his 19th birthday.
L-Cpl Aubrey Oliver Pryer, 23418, 14th Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died on May 6th, 1917, from wounds sustained in the Battle of Arras. He was aged 23.
Driver Frederick Albert Matthews, 35792, 136th Company Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) and ex-25541 Beds Regiment, died of gunshot wounds at Basra, Mesopotamia, on April 24th, 1917.
Gunner Charles Hobbs, 315375, Royal Garrison Artillery, died in action in Flanders on May 6th, 1917. He was aged 29 and had been killed instantly by a shell, the first man in his battery to die by enemy fire.
Pte William Horsler, G/50146, 11th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, died on May 6th, 1917, from severe wounds sustained on the battlefield. He left a widow and six children at their home in Limbury.
Pte Albert Hughes, 42733, 10th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders on May 7th, 1917.
Pte John Cain, 29205, 13th Essex Regiment, was killed in action near Arras on April 28th, 1917. The 23-year-old had initially been posted as missing and his widow, Eliza Jane, had received no further regular letters from him.
Sgt Sidney Cherry, 50457, 11th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, was presumed killed in action near Arras on or soon after April 28th, 1917. He was aged 32.
Sgt William Cyril Frederick Charles Meakins, 3635, 51st Company Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), was killed in action on April 23rd, 1917. He had been badly wounded in the abdomen and was unable to move from right up against the German wire.
Pte Walter Ernest Boskett, 32209, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died as a prisoner of war on May 9th, 1917. He was aged 38.
Ordinary Seaman William Harold Burrows, J/36685, Royal Navy, met an accidental death while serving on HMS Dido on May 10th, 1917. He was aged 19.
Pte Charles William Peet, 22170, 1st Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment, was reported missing, believed killed, near Arras on May 3rd, 1917.
War Office notification that he was missing was received by his sister at 64 Warwick Road, Luton.
Pte Frederick John Moorhead, 50151, 11th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action near Arras on May 4th, 1917.
Pte Ernest Arthur Smith, 6254, 11th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, died of wounds in Flanders on May 1th, 1917. He had been in the firing line for just a few days.
Pte George Pratt, 200870, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died of wounds at the No 54 Casualty Clearing Station in Palestine on May 13th, 1917.
Pte Arthur George White, 266358, 5th Battalion Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, was killed in action on or soon after May 3rd, 1917. After not hearing from her son, Mrs Minnie White, sent a food parcel addressed to him that was received by her son's friend, Pte Rolfe.
Pte Sidney Cleaver, 3433, 4th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action on or shortly after April 28th, 1917. He left a widow, Florence Kate, and a baby daughter, Phyllis Ellen.
Pte Albert Charles Smith, 3/6620, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on or soon after May 14th, 1917. He was aged 22 and left a widow, Daisy, living at 3 Surrey Street, Luton.
Pte Sidney Soper, G/42342 (G/5152 in some records), 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action near Arras on April 23rd, 1917.
Pte Arthur Thomas Cain, 29204, 13th Battalion Essex Regiment, was killed in action on April 28th, 1917. The 36-year-old had initially been reported missing.
Gunner Frederick Charles Mead, 315376, 1st (Wessex) Heavy Battery Royal Garrison Artillery, died of wounds in France on May 6th, 1917. He was aged 23.
Pte George Davis, 202772, 7th Battalion Norfolk Regiment, was killed in action in France on April 28th, 1917. He was the son of William and Lizzie (Elizabeth) Davis, of Stopsley Green.
Pte Sidney George Burnage, 50638, 2nd Battalion Suffolk Regiment, was killed in action in France on May 8th, 1917. He was aged 28 and had been married for just under a year.
Pte Frederick Herbert Smith, 228139, 1st Battalion London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), was killed in action, having been reported missing on April 28th, 1917.
Pte John William Cooper, 55240, 16th Battalion Welsh Regiment, met a particularly tragic death at the Front in Belgium on May 22nd, 1917, drowning in a deep water-filled shell hole from which he was unable to escape before help could reach him.
Pte Harry Edgar Silsby (Silsbey), 25437, 6th Battalion Northants Regiment, was killed in action on May 3rd, 1917, although it was nearly a year before official confirmation arrived with his family.
Pte Arthur William Housden, 23606, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died on May 24th, 1917, from wounds sustained in France.
Pte Ernest Bernard Angel, 31465, 91st Company Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), died in Abbeville Hospital in France on May 25th, 1917, from wounds sustained on the battlefield. Before his death, he had already had his right arm and leg amputated.
Pte John Bangs, 47645, 14th Battalion Welsh Regiment, died of wounds in France, on May 27th, 1917. Both of his legs were fractured and he suffered other fatal injuries after a shell struck his dug-out.
Sapper Clarence Sydney William Sivil, 78498, 4th Field Survey Company Royal Engineers, was killed in action in France on May 27th, 1917. He was aged 20.
Pte Albert Dawson, G/61108, 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, was killed in action on May 28th, 1917. He was aged 40.
Pte William Charles Griffiths, 29183, 9th Battalion Essex Regiment, was killed in action in France on April 30th, 1917. He was 30 years old.
Pte Stanley George Maskell, 29209, Essex Regiment, was killed in action on April 28th, 1917. He was aged 30.
Pte Christopher Allen, 50528, 4th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action in France on or soon after April 28th, 1917. He was aged 32.
Sgt Albert Mullett, 19166, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders on June 2nd, 1917. He was in charge of a Lewis gun company.