Luton's People 1914-1918
This page contains a list of soldiers/civilians from Luton and surroundings 1914-1918, and the ancestors of people who live in Luton today. It has been compiled from the 1918 Luton Absent Voters List, Rolls of Honour; and information researched and uploaded by project volunteers and members of the public.
If you find your ancestor here, and there is only basic information available, then feel free to use the comment box to add further information you may already know. The WWI Project Team, can then add this further information to the basic data we already hold.
The sources of this information can be found via the links below. Please feel free to download and use this information, but please please search for and upload your ancestor to the site if/when you find them:-
Absent Voters List
Luton Roll of honour
Before adding anybody to the site, it is always advisable to search for your ancestor first.
L-Cpl Ellis Henman, 27814, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 4th, 1916. He had been in France foronly a month when he was reported missing in an attack on Falfemont Farm.
Pte Samuel James Carter, 27755, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 4th, 1916.
Pte Fred Harper, 13942, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on on the Somme on September 4th, 1916. He was the first man in Offley to volunteer for war service and the sixth man from the village to perish on the battlefield.
Pte Charles Wood, 27844, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 5th, 1916.
Luton-born Pte Herbert Owen Sawyer, 18362, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 5th, 1916.
Pte Thomas Richard Buller, 18754, 6th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, died on September 5th, 1916, from wounds sustained on the Somme.
Gunner Montague George Fountain, 132456, Royal Field Artillery, was killed in action on the Somme on August 24th, 1916, less than a fortnight after arriving in France.
Pte Walter Henman, 19546, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 15th, 1916. He was aged 21 and the second son of William and Alice Henman, of Breachwood Green, to die in France in 11 days.
Pte Christopher Perry, 22395, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 15th, 1916. He was aged 47.
Sgt Arthur Huckle, 18233, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 15th, 1916.
Pte William Cooper, 20266, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died on September 18th, 1916, from wounds sustained in action on the Somme. He was aged 21 and died on an ambulance barge in France.
Pte William Fensome, 21426, 12th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, died at a casualty clearing station in France on September 20th, 1916, from wounds sustained on the battlefield the previous day.
Pte Harold Ronald Kempson, 43563, 140th Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), died on September 22nd, 1916, from wounds sustained in action on the Somme. He was aged 34 and had lived at 18 Inkerman Street, Luton.
Pte Thomas James Swain, 18970, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was killed in action on the Somme on or shortly after September 10th, 1916. He was aged 21.
The son of Luton Corporation employee Arthur Swain and his wife Jane, of 30 Arthur Street, Luton,
L-Cpl Joshua Dyer, G/14527, 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, died in Netley Hospital, near Southampton, on September 22nd, 1916, after being severely wounded on the Western Front. He had transferred from the Bedfordshire Regiment.
Pte Sidney George Peters, 26088, 9th Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, died on September 9th, 1916, from wounds sustained in action on the Somme.
Pte William Brooks, 43555, 182nd Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), was killed in action on the Somme on September 24th, 1916. He was aged 35 and left a widow,Annie, and four children - Baden, Edith, Elsie and Madge.
Henry Ewart Rawlings was born in 1886 in Cricklewood, Middlesex. 1 of 5 children born to Sarah & George, a railway engine driver.
In 1911 he is living with his family at 106 Chetwynd Road, Highgate, London, he is 25 years old & working as a railway clerk.
Pte Arthur Dumpleton, 27845, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 25th, 1916.
Pte Percy George Lane, 14614, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 27th, 1916. He was aged 22 and the only son of George and Elizabeth Lane, of 212 High Town Road, Luton.
Company Sgt Major Arthur Fountain, 15400, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 27th, 1916.
Pte Ernest William Furr, 3/7722, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 27th, 1916.
Temporary Sec-Lieut Herbert George Merchant, 9th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment attached to the 7th Battalion, was killed in action on the Somme on September 28th, 1916. He was aged 22.
Cpl William John Andrews, 22020, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in an attack on the Schwaben Redoubt, near Thiepval on the Somme, on September 28th, 1916.
Pte James Hubert Mimms, 14405, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 28th, 1916.
Second Lieut William Samuel Scruby, 12th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action near Thiepval on the Somme on September 26th, 1916. He was aged 25 and had planned to marry during his next leave.
L-Cpl Thomas John (Jack) Heley, 15743, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died on September 29th, 1916, from wounds sustained on the Somme.
Bombardier Charles William Asbury, 33560, 39th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, was killed in action on September 12th, 1916, on the Somme. He was aged 32.
L-Cpl Alfred Warren, 8134, 1/2nd Battalion London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), was killed in action on the Somme on September 23rd, 1916. He was the son of Frederick William Warren of and his wife Jane (nee Williams), of 3 Dunstable Road, Leagrave.
Rifleman William Ernest Ratcliffe, S/11035, 3rd Battalion Rifle Brigade, died on the Somme on August 18th, 1916.
Pte William Dovaston, 3848, 9th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 11th, 1916. He was aged 19.
Pte William Hawkes, 26095, 56th Protection Company, Royal Defence Corps, was killed by a bomb dropped from an airship at Willian, Herts, on October 1st-2nd, 1916. He was perhaps the only person from the Luton area known to have died as a direct result of a World War 1 air raid.
L-Cpl Bert Holdstock, 2836, 1/24th County of London Regiment (The Queen's), was killed in action on the Somme on September 16th, 1916. His role was as a bomber.
Pte Arthur William Fensome, 6485, 71st Company Machine Gun Corps, died on September 27th, 1916, from wounds sustained on the Somme.
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.
Pte Herbert Harold Howkins, 11888, 11th Royal Fusiliers, was reported to have been killed in action on the Somme on September 25th, 1916. He was aged 31.
Rifleman Arthur David Sharp, C/6265, 18th Battalion King's Royal Rifles, was killed in action on the Somme on September 15th, 1916. He was single and aged 28.
He had enlisted at St Pancras in London in July 1915 and went out to France the following May.
Second Lieut Edward Stanley Strachan, 8th Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment), was killed in action on October 14th, 1915. A year later he was still reported "missing, believed killed".
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.