Percy Edward Hurst was born in Luton in April 1895.

In 1911 he is living with his widowed father, 2 brothers & 2 sisters at 199 North Street. Percy is 16 & working as a grocer. His 45 year old father Frederick is a dyer's labourer & 19 year old brother Henry, a straw worker are both employed in the hat trade. 17 year old Frederick is a butcher, sisters Louise 15 & Emily 12 are at home.

Pte Frederick (Fred) Davis, 27629, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action at Arras in France on June 17th, 1917. He was aged 21.

He was born in his mother's home town of Croydon, Surrey, in 1896, and regimental records say he resided at Leagrave. Unfortunately, his death is totally unrecorded in Luton newspapers, although he is included on the Luton Roll of Honour with an address of 19 Tavistock Street, Luton - the post-war address of parents Henry (Harry) and Annie Davis.

Sidney Francis Waring was born in Luton in October 1884.

In July 1911 he married May Camp in Luton.

Sidney enlisted into the 5th Bedfordshire Regiment & was posted to Gallipoli.

Sidney died at Brighton Military Hospital on 26th March 1916 from meningitis following his wounds received in Gallipoli.

He is buried in the cemetery on Rothesay Road.

Gunner Herbert Butterfield, 101907, 217th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery, was killed in action in France on June 5th, 1917. He was aged 34.

He had joined up in July 1916 and went to France the following January after nerly seven months of training. The last that his widow Rose Ellen, of 109 Cowper Street, Luton, had heard from him was in May 1917 while his battery was resting.

William Alfred Carter was born in Luton in 1878, 1 of 11 children born to Alfred & Harriet.

In 1911 he is living with his 61 year old parents at 52 Dumfries Street he is 33 years old & William & his father are both working as general labourers.

On 6th July 1915 William joined the Army Service Corps as a horse driver. On 15th February 1916 William was posted, as part of the British Expeditionary Force, to France but shortly after arriving he became ill with an ulceration of the stomach.

Gunner Frederick George Charge, 102343, 212th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery, was one of six men killed by a single German shell in Flanders on June 8th, 1917.

Gunner Charge, who had served through the Boer War and wore the South African medals, had been in France for six months. He joined up again on July 10th, 1916,

He had married Millie Cooper at Christ Church, Luton, on April 3rd, 1915, and the couple were living at 109 Maple Road, Luton. They had no children.

Sapper Reuben Edward Parris, 524535, 105th Field Company Royal Engineers, was killed in action at Messines Ridge on June 6th, 1917.

Official notification of his death from the War Office reached his widow Elizabeth at their home at 81 Ash Road, Luton, ten days later. The couple had arrived in Luton from Coventry, where they were living at the time of the 1911 Census. Reuben first worked at George Kent's before becoming a foreman moulder at the Skefko Works and then returning to work at Kent's.

Pioneer Harry Manning, 206755, 'L' Special Company Royal Engineers, died in the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station in France on June 3rd, 1917, after being gassed on he battlefield. He was aged 20.

A week before his death Pioneer Manning had been drafted into the same company as his father, Pioneer William George Manning (128912), who was able to see him in hospital before he died. He was also present at his son's burial in a nearby cemetery.

Pte Albert Dawson, G/61108, 17th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, was killed in action on May 28th, 1917. He was aged 40.

Born in Lilley in 1876, he was living in Marson Place, Stopsley, with Lizzie and their five children and had worked as a bricklayer's labourer. He had married Lizzie Crick in 1900 and children Frederick Albert, Gladys May, Florence Mabel, Hubert Frank and Marjorie were born between 1901 and 1911.

Albert is commemorated on the Stopsley War Memorial.

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.

Prior to enlistment, bricklayer John Bangs was working at Putteridge Park and lived with his wife and four children at Butterfield Green, Stopsley.

Born in Wheathampstead in 1879, a son of John and Charlotte Bangs, he married Emma Hunter in 1904. Their children Eileen, Marion, Jack and Edith were born between 1905 and 1912.

Pte Arthur William Housden, 23606, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died on May 24th, 1917, from wounds sustained in France.

He was admitted to hospital on May 2nd and underwent two operations. Both seemed to have been successful, although he could hardly see. But on May 18th the hospital Sister wrote that his condition had worsened, and on May 25th she wrote to Pte Housden's parents to say: "I regret to say your son died yesterday afternoon at 4.30 very peacefully. He was much worse in the night and quite unconscious towards the end, but did not suffer any pain."

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.

Sidney had written three or four letters a week to Florence before they suddenly ceased. It was then that a lady church worker at St Saviour's gave the first intimation of Sidney's fate. As he was on the church roll of honour, Sidney was sent a monthly letter from the church. The last one sent had been returned with "wounded" written on the envelope.

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.

The son of Sophia (and the late William Pratt), of Pyne Cottages, Chalton, he enlisted in the Beds Regiment two years earlier and gained promotion to corporal (5240). He then sacrificed his stripes on transfer to the 1/5th Battalion and went out to Egypt a year before his death.

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.

The son of Johnathan and Ellen Peet, he was born at Greenfield in Bedfordshire in 1878, Charles Peet was an employee of George Kent Ltd before enlisting in October 1916. He proceeded to the Front in March 1917 after a short period of training.

Pte Walter Ernest Boskett, 32209, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died as a prisoner of war on May 9th, 1917. He was aged 38.

There does seem to have been some confusion on the battlefield. Second Lieut Dudley W. Wright wrote to widow Maud at 99 Ashton Road, Luton: "With great regret I have to inform you that your husband, Pte W. E. Boskett, of this battalion, was killed in action on the 25th of April. He was killed by a shell, and his death was instantaneous. The officers and men would like to send their deepest sympathy."