Private

In the British Army, a private (Pte) equates to both OR-1 and OR-2 on the NATO scale, although there is no difference in rank. Privates wear no insignia. Many regiments and corps use other distinctive and descriptive names instead of private, some of these ranks have been used for centuries, others are less than 100 years old.[2] In the contemporary British Armed Forces, the army rank of private is broadly equivalent to able seaman in the Royal Navy, aircraftman, leading aircraftman and senior aircraftman in the Royal Air Force, and marine (Mne) or bandsman, as appropriate equivalent rank in the Royal Marines. The term as a military rank seems to come from the Sixteenth Century when individuals had the privilege of enlisting or making private contracts to serve as private soldiers in military units.

Private Frederick Stevens

Pte Frederick Stevens, 17371, 11th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders on September 26th, 1917. He was aged 19 and single.

A letter from a comrade to parents Frederick and Martha Annie Stevens at 49 Stuart Street, Luton, said their son was buried where he fell and a cross was erected over his grave. As Pte Stevens is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium, the location of the grave was presumably subsequently lost.

Private Stanley George Thomas Impey

Pte Stanley George Thomas Impey, 40047, 7th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, died in hospital in Belgium on October 8th, 1917, from the effects of gas poisoning.

He was admitted to hospital on October 2nd. Three days later, a sister at the hospital wrote to parents George and Elizabeth Impey at 43 Bailey Street, Luton, stating that there was every hope of their son's recovery. But on the evening of October 8th he passed peacefully away.

Stanley's father was an employee of The Luton News, according to a report of Stanley's death.

Private Walter John Smith

Pte Walter John Smith, 203211, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Palestine on October 7th, 1917. He was aged 22 and single.

Walter Smith, one of nine surviving children of William and Mary Ann Smith, of 1 Blyth Place, Russell Street, Luton, had before the war been employed by the Luton Co-operative Society at its High Town and Dunstable branches.

Private William Roe

Pte William Roe, 27967, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Belgium on October 7th, 1917. He was aged 24.

No reports of his death seem to have been published in Luton newspapers, but other records show he was a son of Lewis (or Louis) and Emma (or Emily) Roe, of 6 Talbot Road, Luton. His cousin, Stanley John Roe (32254, 2nd Bedfords), died on the battlefield on September 20th, 1917, and is commemorated on the Luton Roll of Honour with the same address.

Private Archibald William Clarke

Pte Archibald William Clarke, 241584, 1st East Surrey Regiment, died of wounds on October 6th, 1917. He had been at the Front only three weeks after having being transferred from the Middlesex Regiment (5865) to the East Surreys.

Archibald enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment in March 1916 and was stationed for a while at Canterbury after joining the East Surreys and gained a reputation for his talent as a pianist at the Y.M.C.A. and among musical circles there.

Private Arthur William Thomas Claridge

Pte Arthur William Thomas Claridge, G/21209, 6th Battalion The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), died on October 4th, 1917, from wounds sustained in France.

A hospital nurse wrote to parents Frederick and Hannah at Bendish, Herts, stating that their only son died in hospital as the result of shell wounds in the chest, back and arm. He was unconscious from the time he was wounded. He was buried in a French cemetery with a cross erected over his grave.

Private Alfred Arthur Ashton

Pte Alfred Arthur Ashton, 33689, 8th Battalion Yorks & Lancs Regiment, was killed in action in Belgium on October 1st, 1917. He was aged 19.

He was struck by a shell whilst doing his duty in the front line and died instantly, according to a letter from a comrade sent to parents Bruce and Annie Ashton, of 28 Duke Street, Luton.

Alfred Ashton had enlisted in the Norfolk Regiment six months earlier and was subsequently transferred to the Yorks and Lancs Regiment. He had been in France only five weeks.

Private Percy Edward Roe

Pte Percy Edward Roe, 203850, 1/1st Hertfordshire Regiment, was into only his third day in the trenches when he died on September 25th, 1917, from wounds sustained on the battlefield near Ypres. He left behind a young widow whom he married only about three months earlier.

His section commander wrote that he and his men were in a support trench when a heavy bombardment started. A shell burst near and blew up eight men, including Pte Roe.

Private William Jackson

Pte William Jackson, 238023, 12th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was reported wounded and missing in Flanders on August 7th, 1917, and later presumed dead on that date. He was aged 29, married and had one child.

Widow Maud first received official news from the War Office in September 1917 that her husband was wounded. A month later she learned he was missing, but he was still included on Luton's 1918 absent voters' list with an address at 78 Frederic Street.

Private Wilfred John Kibble

Pte Wilfred John Kibble, 118701, Army Service Corps (M.T.), attached to the 92nd Field Ambulance, Royal Army Service Corps, died of wounds at the 36th Casualty Clearing Station in France, on September 22nd, 1917.

It was at the end of a final act of gallantry and devotion to duty that Pte Kibble, who had been a footman to Lady Wernher at Luton Hoo, collapsed and died. Although being badly wounded about the head, he continued to drive his ambulance to the Advanced Dressing Station, where he succumbed to his fate.

Private Albert Cooper

Pte Albert Cooper, 40360, 1/5th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, was killed in action in Belgium on September 6th, 1917. The Stopsley soldier's death came on the day before his 22nd birthday.

The youngest son of Arthur and Mary Ann Cooper, of Hazeldene, Ramridge Road [Ashcroft Road], Stopsley, he had enlisted in the Fusiliers in February 1916, and had been in France only nine weeks.

He was employed as a shop assistant by confectioner Herbert Heley at 20 Manchester Street, Luton. He had also been a member of the Stopsley Wesleyan Sunday School.

Private Stanley John Roe

The death in action on September 20th, 1917, in the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium of Pte Stanley John Roe, 32254, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment appears to have gone unrecorded in Luton newspapers.

Census and other records, however show that he was the son of David (died 1908) and Kate (died 1914) Roe, both of whom lived only into their 30s. By 1911, Stanley was a 15-year-old foundry worker living at 98 Hitchin Road, Luton, with his widowed mother and a three-year-old sister, Gladys.

Private Horace Edgar Hubbocks

Pte Horace Edgar Hubbocks, 3/7430, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Belgium on September 20th, 1917.

Born in Tring in 1898 and a son of William and Kate Hubbocks, of the Hare and Hounds pub, 32 New Town Street, Luton, he was mobilised at the outbreak of war and was stationed at Landguard, Suffolk, for 12 months. He was drafted to France while still aged only 17 and had served two years out there.

Private Thomas Lewis

Pte Thomas Lewis, 235258, Lincolnshire Regiment, was reported missing in action at Wytschaete, Belgium, on July 31st, 1917, during the Battle of Messines, and later to be a prisoner of war of the Germans at Dulmen, Westphalia.

He survived the war and was repatriated. He returned to his wife Elizabeth and sons and lived at 3 Wood Street, Luton, until the 1930s, when he and Elizabeth moved to 11 Bailey Street. Thomas died in 1941 at the age of 57.

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