Pte Frederick James Bysouth, 200992, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Palestine on July 20th, 1917 - a day of particularly high casualties for the regiment. He was aged 32 and married with a wife living at 123 Russell Street, Luton.

Frederick had joined the Bedfords in October 1915 and, after six months training at Halton, set sail for Egypt 15 months before his death.

Cpl Bertie Breed, 200662, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Palestine on July 20th, 1917 - in a battle with a growing casualty list described by the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph as almost, if not quite, as severe as that in the struggle on the Gallipoli Peninsular.

Bertie Breed had also fought at Gallipoli and was wounded in the leg in the August 15th, 1915, charge there. The wound meant he was in hospital for three months in Cairo, underwent three operations and became ill with dysentery.

Pte Samuel George Whittington, 200564, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action under shell fire near Ypres on July 18th, 1917. He was aged 34, married and had a daughter.

Capt S. Tabor sent the news to widow Nellie at 79 Hastings Street, Luton. Pte Whittington had seen only eight weeks service with the battalion in France, although he had joined the Beds Regiment in another battalion at the outbreak of war.

Lieut Frederick Charles Cook, RAF, died in the Empire Hospital, Victoria, London, on October 9th, 1919, as a result of wounds sustained in action over a year earlier. He was aged 21.

After being transferred from the 2nd Beds Regiment he gained a reputation in the RAF as being an expert bomber and the crack shot of his squadron, responsible for 'winging' several German machines.

Pte Wilfred Tompkins, 57896, 11th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, was killed in action in Belgium on July 12th, 1917. He was within a few days of his 28th birthday.

Second Lieut E. Dixon, of C Company, in a letter to parents Thomas William and Sarah Annie Tompkins at 42 Maple Road, Luton, said their son had joined the Cheshires only on July 11th. On the night of the 12th he was a member of a working party behind the line when a shell burst by him and killed him instantly.

Pte Archibald (Archie) Smith, 33872, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, is recorded as having died of wounds in France on July 12th, 1917, at the age of 26. However, Capt Saunders, in charge of his company, wrote in a letter to widowed mother Elizabeth Smith that he had been killed in action by a piece of shrapnel on the evening of July 11th.

Archie Smith had enlisted in the Beds Regiment early in the war and, after training at Newmarket, went to Gallipoli, where he was seriously wounded in the head and shoulder. He also had an attack of dysentery.

Veteran soldier Pte Augustus George Baker, 4176, 1/5th Bedfordshire Regiment, died at his home at 23 Collingdon Street, Luton, on July 12th, 1917, suffering from bronchitis, asthma and heart trouble. He was aged 44.

Pte Arthur Fitzjohn, 025045, 96th Company Army Ordnance Corps, died in the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot, on July 11th, 1917, after several months of ill health. He was aged 31.

Born and bred in St Albans, he joined the Army Ordnance Corps in November 1916 and after that was never in good health. He was first taken suddenly ill while on leave at Luton, and he was treated first in the Bute Hospital and then at Wardown. After that he contracted further illness and died on July 11th in Aldershot.

Pte Joseph Bransome, 22530, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died in hospital on July 8th, 1917, from wounds sustained on the battlefield on July 1st. He was aged 33.

Pte Horace Fensome, 203933, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 28th, 1917.

A battalion chaplain wrote to widow Mrs Florence Annie Fensome, at 100 Baker Street, Luton, to say her husband had been killed in a successful attack, but he suffered no pain. He was buried in a little cemetery close behind the line, and the battalion were erecting a cross over his grave.

Pte Fensome had joined up just over a year earlier, and had been in France only 11 weeks, seven weeks in the trenches.

Rifleman Leonard Roland Donne, 37031, King's Royal Rifles, died at Dormstadt in Germany as a prisoner of war on June 23rd, 1917. He was captured after being wounded in action on April 23rd.

After twice being rejected, Rifleman Donne joined the KRR in November 1916, and went to France soon after Christmas following two months in training at Wimbledon.

Initial reports home said Rifleman Donne, aged 25, had been treated at a British dressing station, where his wounds were not considered to be serious. Trace of him had been lost after he left there.

Pte Frederick Goodman, 14840, 13th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, died on June 20th, 1917, shortly after admission to a casualty clearing station with battlefield wounds. He was aged 22.

He enlisted soon after the outbreak of war and had been in France only 11 months when the news reached his mother Annie Goodman (nee Saunders) and grandmother, who were living at 9 Surrey Street, Luton. He had a brother, Sidney John, and sister, Clara Anne, living at 9 Wenlock Street, at the time.

Pte Frederick (Fred) Davis, 27629, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action at Arras in France on June 17th, 1917. He was aged 21.

He was born in his mother's home town of Croydon, Surrey, in 1896, and regimental records say he resided at Leagrave. Unfortunately, his death is totally unrecorded in Luton newspapers, although he is included on the Luton Roll of Honour with an address of 19 Tavistock Street, Luton - the post-war address of parents Henry (Harry) and Annie Davis.

Pte Henry (Harry) Kightley, 50167, 12th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 16th, 1917. He was aged 37. Press mention of his death appears to have been confined to a brief family announcement.

His name appears on the Luton Roll of Honour without an address, but the 1911 Census reveals that he was a house decorator then living with his widowed mother Charlotte at The Firs, Hazelbury Crescent, Luton, and that he was born in 1880.

Pte William Francis Daniel Everett, 202664, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, had been in France only nine weeks when he died on June 14th, 1917, from wounds sustained in action. He was aged 25.

Writing to widow Ethel Mabel Everett at 28 Ashton Street, Luton, chaplain the Rev C. O. R. Wormald said Pte Everett was brought into the 49th Casualty Clearing Station seriously wounded. Everything possible was done to save his life, but he passed away on June 14th. The writer had ministered to him in his last hours and he thought there was not much suffering.