L-Cpl Charles Lawrence, 23494, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died at a clearing station in France on February 16th, 1917, three days after being wounded by shrapnel in action at Beaumont-Hamel on the Somme. He was aged 20.

Born in Luton in 1896, Charles was the youngest of five serving soldier sons of widow Mrs Ann Lawrence, of 59 Ashton Road, Luton (her husband, Frederick, died in 1898). He had enlisted in November 1915, having been formerly employed by Messrs J. Webdale and Sons at their Wellington Street store. He was an old boy of Chapel Street School, Luton.

Pte Horace Bleaney, 22762, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action at Trones Wood on the Somme on July 3rd, 1916. He left a widow and two boys.

He had enlisted in October 1915 and was trained at Landguard and Felixstowe before going to the Front the following June. Prior to joining up, he was employed by hat manufacturer Miss Pattie Longstaffe, of Guildford Street, Luton,

Pte Joseph Edward Betts, 1784, Eastern Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed by a bullet as he was about to board a lighter to take him to the Gallipoli beaches on October 8th*, 1915.

He was still on board the ship on which he he had set sail from England for the Dardanelles when he was killed. Commanding Officer Major William Archibald, who had been Luton's Medical Officer of Health, wrote to parents Joseph and Mary Jane Betts at 57 Ashton Road, Luton, with the news.