Pte William Henry "Snip" Parsons, 163604, 621st Mechanical Transport Company, Army Service Corps, died in a Military Hospital at Cambridge on December 24th, 1916, from cerebrospinal meningitis. He was aged 36.
He had come home from France, where he was serving, to undergo an operation at Chatham, where it was reported he had contracted the fatal illness. Back in Luton, his case was considered hopeless by local doctors and he was removed to Cambridge, where he never regained consciousness.
Pte John Cox, 1059, Army Service Corps, died in hospital in Egypt from dysentery on October 8th, 1915, while attached to the 49th Division serving at Gallipoli.
Born at Watbridge, East Hyde, in early 1880 and a popular former footballer, he had worked for straw hat manufacturer Harry Briars at 75 May Street, Luton, prior to enlisting with the Army Service Corps at Woolwich in August 1914. He went to the Dardanelles in March 1915.