Sapper Reed Knight, 628195, 4th Canadian Railway Troops, was killed in action near Nieuport in Belgium on October 19th, 1917. His was a story of a Vancouver boy's romance with a Luton girl that soon turned to tragedy on the battlefield.

Chaplain the Rev D. Oliver wrote that Sapper Knight was killed by a bursting shell. He died instantly and was buried the following afternoon in a British Cemetery. The funeral was a military one and his grave was marked with a wooden cross.

Pte Ernest Rodell, 14864, 13th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, died at Gheluvelt, near Ypres, on October 18th, 1917, from wounds sustained in action. He was aged 23, single and had lived with his parents at 3 Surrey Street, Luton.

One of his chums wrote to Pte Rodell's sister stating that he was wounded on October 17th and died like a hero, happy and conscious to the last. Only a few minutes before he died he asked his chums to shake hands with him. "They did so, and were with him to the last."

Pte Bertie Hawkes, 88018, 3rd Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, died in the No. 14 General Hospital, Wimereux, France, on October 17th, 1917, suffering from the effects of gas poisoning. He was aged 20 and single.

His mother Rosa was living alone at 21 North Street, Luton, after her old soldier husband Alfred and her seven sons - Bertie plus Edward, Arthur, Cyril, Jesse, John and Norman - were serving in the Army either at home or abroad.

Pte Frank (Franklin) Fane, 202749, 1/4th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment, died in a casualty clearing station in Mesopotamia on October 13th, from severe neck wounds sustained in the British advance on Baghdad. His death had followed a week of intense suffering.

The second son of the late George Fane (died 1907, aged 55), of Herne Farm, Toddington, and Emily Fane, he was a Territorial who was with his company training at Ashridge when way broke out. After a period of further training he was sent out to Mesopotamia and was engaged in most of the battles in that region.

Pte Harold Smallbones, 37164, 1st Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, was killed in action on September 26th, 1917.

Second Lieut V. W. Rudkin wrote that Pte Smallbones was sleeping at the time he met his death when a shell exploded nearby. A chum who had a lucky escape said he was only ten yards from the spot where Harold was killed by the shell.

Pte Harry Chalkley, 50129, 8th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, was presumed killed in action on October 13th, 1917, according to a letter from the Front. He had enlisted in the Suffolks in July 1916 and went to France the following November.

A chaplain writing to widow Ellen Laura Chalkley at 40 Avondale Road, Luton, said her husband had been missing since October 13th and he was not optimistic about his fate.

Pte Sidney Charles Fensome, 38731, 2/8th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, was killed in action in Belgium on October 9th, 1917. He had joined the Colours in March 1917 and been in France only since May.

He was the eldest son of the late Mr Sidney Fensome, baker, of Brache Street and Wood Street, Luton, and Kate Fensome. He was with his father in business until his death, when he transferred to baker Mr Fuller and later Messrs Frost and Cooper, of Ash Road.

He left a widow, Rose, and a 10-month-old child, living at 21 Granville Road, Luton.

Pte Harry James Boustred, 235101, 1/4th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, died of wounds on October 11th, 1917, while being conveyed to a base hospital in France by ambulance train.

Pte Boustred had sustained severe wounds in the arm and thigh while fighting with the Gloucesters and died from exhaustion, according to a hospital sister in a field postcard sent to widowed mother Priscilla Boustred at 26 Russell Street, Luton.

Pte Herbert Gerald Bigmore, 203195, 2/5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment) was killed in action near Ypres in Belgium on September 26th, 1917.

In a letter expressing sympathy to his sister Florence, the Officer Commanding wrote: "Your brother was posted missing after action on the 26th September. On that day the Battalion went into action in an attack, and your brother, I am afraid, was one of those for whom we could not account after the Regiment had come out of the line."

Pte Gerald Noel Lovell, 31617, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders on October 9th*, 1917, according to military records.

He had enlisted in the Bedfords in November 1916 and was drafted to the Front the following April. His death came when a shell burst near him, also wounding two comrades.

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.

Pte David Lewis Fessey, 206905, 10th Battalion Royal West Surrey Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders on September 22nd, 1917. His home was at 13 Dunstable Place, Luton, with his widowed mother Mary and sister Emily.

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.

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.

Gunner George Hill, 111632, signaller and telephonist with the 253rd Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, was killed in action during the Third Battle of Ypres on October 4th, 1917. A shell which exploded near him killed him instantly.

Letters from the Front included one from Major Gray, who wrote to widow Olive at 17 King's Road, Luton, to express his sympathy, with the added comment: "He was a telephonist, and only the best men volunteer to be telephonists."