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. A comrade who tried to help him placed him in a shell hole, but was unable to find him when he returned for him later that night.

Sgt Meakins, known as Cyril, was initially reported missing, believed killed, before parents William and Ada at 12a Cardigan Street, Luton, were officially informed on May 28th.

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.

Charles and his wife Elizabeth (nee Webb) lived at 82 Highbury Road, Luton. The couple had married in 1911, and Charles was an employee of the CWS Cocoa factory in Dallow Road, Luton, prior to enlisting.

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.

Comrade Pte A. J. White wrote to parents John and Emily Agnes Pryer at 51 Belmont Road, Luton, to inform tham that 'Monty' [L-Cpl Pryer] had died from serious wounds. News came down the line that he was wounded and was being conveyed down later in the day.

Pte Frederick George Manning, 22956, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was posted missing, presumed killed, on or after April 29th, 1917, during the Battle of Arras. The news reached his widow, Rosetta, at her home at 105 Boyle Street, Luton, a month later.

Frederick Manning enlisted on November 1st, 1915, and, after training at Ampthill, was drafted to France in the following July. He was aged 25 and prior to enlisting was employed by coal and coke merchant C. Franklin, of Manchester Street, Luton.

Pte Frederick William Pestell, 30915, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on April 28th, 1917. He was aged 39.

He was called up in July 1916 and, after a spell of training at Landguard on the East Coast, returned home before being drafted out to France in October. His widow, Elizabeth, received official notification of his death two weeks later at her home at 98 Cobden Street, Luton.

Pte Fred Perry, 33070, Leicestershire Regiment, was killed in action near Arras on April 13th, 1917. He left a widow, Alice Maud and six children, two of them adopted as their mother had died and their father was serving in France.

Fred Perry had been discharged from the Army on account of varicose veins after joining up at the outbreak of war. However, in November 1915 he rejoined and spent time training in Luton, Bedford, Halton Camp, Yorkshire and Folkestone. He went to France in December 1916.

Pte William Burkitt, 90012, 136th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed on April 28th, 1917, by a shell which made a direct hit on the cellar in which he and four comrades were sheltering during the Battle of Arras. Three of the friends were killed outright.

Pte Walter George Catlin, 76700, 104th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, died of wounds in action on April 28th, 1917, during the Battle of Arras. He was a stretcher-bearer aged 19.

A Forces Chaplain wrote to bereaved parents Walter Henry and Maria Catlin, of 65 Clarendon Road, Luton, to tell them that their son was stretcher-bearing when a shell struck in the early morning, killing Walter and wounding four comrades. His body was taken to Haute-Avesnes and buried the same evening during a service attended by his commanding officer and other officers and men.

Pte Herbert Corney, 33791, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died at the 33rd Casualty Clearing Station in France on April 20th, 1917, from extensive shrapnel wounds sustained in action. He was aged 36 and left a widow, Alice, and three children - Thomas, Dorothy and Hilda.

He enlisted in May 1916, having been a member of the Volunteer Corps since its formation, and underwent his training at Halton Camp. He was drafted out to France on New Year's Day, 1917, and had since been regularly in and out of trenches.

Pte William Stanford, 33856, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action around Arras in France on April 18th, 1917. Born in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, he was appointed a postman there in December 1908 before later transferring to Luton around 1912.

He had married Mary Ann Scrivener, from Marsh Road, Leagrave, at Biscot Church on Monday, May 31st, 1909, before the couple initially set up home in Kings Lynn.

William Stanford had enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment in June 1916 and, after training at Tring, went to France on New Year's Day 1917.

Pte Stanley Glenister, 90031, Royal Army Medical Corps, was lost at sea when the troopship SS Arcadian was torpedoed by a German submarine off the Greek island of Milos in the Aegean Sea on April 15th, 1917. A total of 279 lives were lost, including another Lutonian, Pte Cyril Charles Scoats, R.A.M.C., as the converted cruise liner with 1,335 soldiers and crew on board sank within six minutes on a journey from Thessaloniki to Alexandria in Egypt.

Pte Cyril Charles Scoats, 90044, Royal Army Medical Corps, was lost at sea when the troopship SS Arcadian was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the Greek island of Milos in the Aegean Sea on April 15th, 1917. A total of 279 lives were lost, including another Lutonian, Pte Stanley Glenister R.A.M.C., as the converted cruise liner with 1,335 soldiers and crew on board sank within six minutes on a journey from Thessaloniki to Alexandria in Egypt.

Pte George Soffe, 32262, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on April 11th, 1917. He was aged 20 and was the third member of the Luton News staff to have died on the battlefield.

Gunner Sidney Stewart (Stuart) Pearson, 115317, 225th Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery, was killed in action in France on March 30th, 1917. He was a widower aged 34 with two children.

Children Constance, aged 11, and Gladys, aged eight, were living with their mother's parents, baker James Ansell and his wife Phoebe at 7 Guildford Street, Luton. Their daughter Agnes had married Sidney Pearson on November 9th, 1905, but had died at the age of 31 on June 9th, 1911.

Pte Alfred Bent, 43014, 6th Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment, died of wounds on March 14th, 1917, at the No 55 Field Ambulance Station in France. He was aged 31 and single.

He had enlisted in March 1916 and went to the Front in July. Prior to joining up he worked as a traveller.