The Luton News

Private Arthur Phillips

Pte Arthur Phillips, 33131, 8th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was believed to have been killed in action ten months after he was reported missing on May 3rd, 1917.

The news was given to his family at 67 Wimbourne Road, Luton, in March 1918. Pte Phillips had joined the Bedfords (5587) in 1915 and went to France in November 1916, where he was transferred to the Leicesters.

Before joining up he was employed by the Davis Gas Stove Co at the Diamond Foundry, Dallow Road.

Rifleman John Archibald Sives

Rifleman John Archibald Sives, 209436, 21st (Midland) Battalion Rifle Brigade, died in the 19th General Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt, from appendicitis on February 28th, 1918. His age is widely given as 49, although records suggest he was born in Cannock, Staffordshire, in the first quarter of 1874.

John married Luton girl Jane Hucklesby in Luton in 1895. At the time of his death his widow was living at 70 May Street, Luton.

Private Cecil Moore Coombs

Pte Cecil Moore Coombs, 45788, 12th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, was killed in action in France. He was reported missing on January 6th, 1918, and was still so listed by his mother when the Book of Life was created at Luton Parish Church in 1919. He had enlisted on March 31st, 1917, and trained at Felixstowe before proceeding overseas in September 1917.

Private Albert Edward Munt

Pte Albert Edward Munt, 269647, 1st Battalion Herts Regiment, was killed in action on July 31st, 1917. He was reported missing from that date, but his widow was still awaiting definite news in the following March.

Pte Munt, a native of Wheathampstead, married Lillian Florence Bent in St Albans in early 1911 and the couple moved to Luton. They lived at 11 Oxford Road, Luton, and Albert worked for Messrs Burgess's mineral water works in Luton.

Private Cyril Almond

Pte Cyril Almond, 33161, 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was killed in action in France on May 3rd, 1917. He was reported missing after the Battle of Arras, but it was nine anxious months before his parents at Chiltern Green received the official intimation of his death.

Private Horace Arthur Clark

Pte Horace Arthur ('Jack') Clark, 12427, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died of wounds in a Canadian clearing station in Flanders on February 28th, 1918. He had previously served in the trenches for three years without injury.

A telegram on March 1st, 1918, stated that Pte Clark had been severely wounded in the legs, arms, hands and face. The following day brought news of his death and burial by a Church of England chaplain in a military cemetery.

2nd Lieutenant Alfred Hugh Galbraith

Second Lieut Alfred Hugh Galbraith, 57th Training Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, died in a flying accident near Abbassia in Egypt on February 24th, 1918. He was just short of his 19th birthday.

He was the only surviving son of former Luton Town centre forward Hugh Galbraith and his wife Martha, of 69 Chapel Street. Hugh had married Martha Hearn at Christ Church, Luton, on July 4th, 1898, and Alfred was born the following year. Sister Marjorie was born in 1902. A brother, Harold, born in 1905, died in 1909 before his fourth birthday.

Private Samuel Charles Wiseman

Pte Samuel Charles Wiseman, G/28641, 2nd Garrison Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, died from pneumonia in the 28th General Hospital in Salonika on February 17th, 1918.

Son of the late Samuel and Elizabeth Wiseman, of Cumberland Street, Luton, he had married Annie Isabella Smith in her native Carlisle, Cumberland, in 1910. Birth records suggest they had three children - Samuel (born 1911), Margaret (1913) and Rose (1916).

Samuel had enlisted in the Border Regiment (9189). In 1911 he was stationed at the Martinique Barracks in Hampshire, while Annie remained in Carlisle.

Private John Rayner

Pte John Rayner, 33874, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Cambrai on January 12th, 1918. Born at Barton Bendish, Norfolk, he was a resident of Luton before moving to live in Leighton Buzzard.

While in Luton, John was an employee of the British Gelatine Co, New Bedford Road, and lived at 64 Russell Street, Luton. He had married Florence Kate Walker in Luton in the summer of 1913 and later the couple moved to East Street, Leighton Buzzard.

Gunner John Barrow Dunmill

Gunner John Barrow Dunmill, 163556, 110th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, died from wounds in the No 5 Casualty Clearing Station, France, on February 2nd, 1918. He was aged 32.

Unlike most other men commemorated on the Luton Roll of Honour, John Dunmill had little connection with the town other than as a visitor during the seven years his father had been manager of the London County & Westminster Bank on the corner of George Street and Chapel Street.

Private Horace Karl Leaney

Pte Horace Karl Leaney, 30858, Bedfordshire Yeomanry, died at Shoreham-on-Sea Military Hospital in Sussex from pneumonia on February 1st, 1918. He was wounded in action in May 1917 and had been in hospital ever since. He was buried at Holy Trinity Churchyard, Biscot, on February 8th.

Driver Charles Mayhew

Floral tributes with the words "A Hero of Mons" were borne on the Union flag-covered coffin of Driver Charles Mayhew, 41932, 8th Reserve Battery, Royal Field Artillery, when he was buried with full military honours at Biscot Churchyard in January 1918.

Born into a Suffolk family, Charles died on January 15th, 1918, at the home of his married brother Alfred ('Dick') at 54 Hampton Road, Luton. He had been discharged from the Army as medically unfit after being invalided home about a year earlier following an illness contracted in service at Mons, Marne, Ypres and La Bassee.

Private Henry Jasper Broome

Pte Henry Jasper Broome, 73133, 16th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was taken prisoner by the Germans at Cambrai on November 30th, 1917.

In a letter dated December 9th, 1917, to his sister Margaret [married name of Davis], at 9 Bailey Street, Luton, the former Luton Corporation Tramways employee wrote: "There is no need to worry about me, as I am quite safe and looked after well. I am not alone by many hundreds. Do not send me any parcels as I have already received one, and we often get one from the Red Cross...

Private John Thomas Brown

Pte John Thomas Brown, 10238, 7th Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), was reported missing, later presumed killed, on August 3rd, 1917. Six months later his widow asked, through The Luton News, for any information about her husband.

Born in Luton in 1876, he was a son of the late John and Ann Brown. He had married Nellie Osborne at Luton Parish Church on August 5th, 1905. At the time of the 1911 Census John was described as a straw trader living at 28 Stanley Street, Luton.

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