Pte Bertram Hubert Spalding, G/14865, Bedfordshire Regiment attached to the 13th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on October 27th, 1916. He was aged 19.
Comrade and close friend Pte J. G. Stevens wrote to parents Bertram and Emma Spalding at 204 Hitchin Road, Luton, to inform them that their son and he were engaged on operations late at night under German fire when Bert was struck and killed instantly. He was buried the next morning.
Pte Ernest Brandom, G/14511, 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 9th, 1916. He was aged 20.
He joined up soon after war broke out and left for the Front just a couple of months before his death. Parents Frederick George and Sarah Ann Brandom lived at 38 Duke Street, Luton.
At the time of the 1911 Census, 15-year-old Ernest was described as a grocer's assistant.
Second Lieut Richard Reeve Emmens, 7th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 4th, 1916. He was aged 23.
Born in Birmingham, the public school boy was engaged for 12 months before the war as a chartered accountant with Mr Thomas Keens, Secretary of the Luton Chamber of Commerce. He is included on the Luton Roll of Honour with an address at Cardiff Road, Luton.