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.

Christopher Shepheard was born on 22nd April 1892 in Luton, 1 of 10 children born to Sydney & Ellen.

In 1911 Christopher is 18 years old & working with his twin brother Harold as a warehouseman within the straw hat trade & living at 14 Rothesay Road with his family. His 63 year old father Sydney is a house painter, his brother John Sidney, 40 is a self employed straw hat manufacturer alongside his 36 year old sister Hellen Eliza, Lilley Louisa, 38 is a straw hat finisher & 29 year old George Henry is a carpenter & joiner.

Percy Edward Hurst was born in Luton in April 1895.

In 1911 he is living with his widowed father, 2 brothers & 2 sisters at 199 North Street. Percy is 16 & working as a grocer. His 45 year old father Frederick is a dyer's labourer & 19 year old brother Henry, a straw worker are both employed in the hat trade. 17 year old Frederick is a butcher, sisters Louise 15 & Emily 12 are at home.

Pte Reginald Walter Pakes, 60184, 32nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers, was killed in action in Belgium on June 7th, 1917. He was aged 22.

His mother Harriet Mary Pakes, of 31 Malvern Road, Luton, was first informed from London that he son had been wounded, but later told in a letter from the captain of her son's company that he had been killed in action.

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 Joseph Summerfield, 15366, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 17th, 1917. He had enlisted at the outbreak of war and spent two years in France without leave.

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.

Pte Arthur Carter, 203264, 1/4th Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, was reported missing following a raid on June 11th, 1917, according to a letter writer at the Front. Officially his death is recorded as having happened on June 12th.

"I am very much afraid he is killed," said the writer, "as under the circumstances it is very unlikely he was taken prisoner. It was impossible to bring back our dead owing to the number of wounded."

For two-and-a-half anxious years, the family of Pte Reuben Joseph Wilmot, 10491, 2nd Battalion Border Regiment, knew nothing of his fate. Finally, in June 1917, his half-sister Ada Elizabeth, then living at 118 Chapel Street, Luton, learned that he had been taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans near Ypres on October 26th, 1914, and sadly had died from an old bullet wound while still in captivity on March 17th, 1917.

Pte Claude Ernest Pratt, 14855, 13th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, died in a casualty clearing station on June 9th, 1917, from abdomen wounds sustained earlier in the day in the Messines fighting.

A hospital chaplain wrote to parent James Albon and Ellen Louise Pratt at 21 Peach Street, Luton, with the news. He said he had laid their son to rest with several others on June 10th in a cemetery surrounded by hops and growing corn some miles behind the lines - a very peaceful spot.

Pte Walter George Smith, 40356, 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 8th, 1917. He was aged 21.

In a letter of sympathy to parents George and Harriet Smith at 49 Hampton Road, Luton, Second Lieut W. A. Fletcher wrote: "Your son, Pte W. G. Smith, was killed yesterday evening, June 8th,. He was on a working party up in the front line and was hit on the back by a piece of shrapnel. It pierced his heart, and the doctor told me that death must have been instantaneous."

Pte Bertram Norman Birchmore, 47452, 23rd Northumberland Fusiliers, died as a prisoner of war of the Germans on May 4th, 1917. He had been captured with a back wound and in a delirious state on April 29th. He was aged 29.

His widow Gertrude, of 34 Ivy Road, Luton, had been appealing for information about what had happened to her missing husband. It was more than four months before official information arrived that he had died as a prisoner of war.

Pte Christopher Allen, 50528, 4th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action in France on or soon after April 28th, 1917. He was aged 32.