Pte John Alfred Marlow, 19944, 8th Battalion Beds Regiment, was killed in action near Ypres on April 19th, 1916. Initially he was reported missing and his mother asked for his picture to be published in the Luton News in the hope that comrades who read the newspaper would be able to provide positive news.

Pte Marlow was only 18 years old and lived with parents John and Louisa Marlow at 30 Spring Place, Luton. He had begun working as a nine-year-old as an errand boy for hat manufacturer H. Rosson and Co, of 90-92 Collingdon Street. He later worked in the firm's factory.

Pte Walter Ernest Gore, 22505, 8th Battalion Beds Regiment, was killed in action near Ypres on April 19th, 1916, after just nine weeks of active service on the Western Front. He was aged 27.

The second son of Albert and Elizabeth Gore, of 32 St Ann's Road, Luton, he had worked at the Hubbard works in Princess Street before joining up in September 1915.

He left a widow, Florence May, and young daughter, Grace Florence. At the time of the 1911 Census the family were living at 30 St Ann's Road.

Cpl Reginald Sydney Buckingham, 17597, 1st Battalion Oxford and Buck Light Infantry, was killed in action while serving in the Persian Gulf on April 6th, 1916. He was aged 22.

The son of Levi and Lily Buckingham, he was born in Tebworth in 1894, and in 1901 was living at 31 Stuart Street, Luton. In April 1914 he married Priscilla Ann Pateman and had a son, Aubrey Reginald, with whom he lived at Dorset Villa, Marsh Road, Leagrave.

Rifleman Augustus Tennyson Bruton, C/1611, 16th Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps, died at the Lord Derby War Hospital, Warrington, Lancs, on April 10th, 1916, from wounds accidentally sustained during bomb-throwing training in France. He was aged 21.

He joined the Forces in November 1915 and was sent for training. On February 1st, without having had any leave, he went to France. Parents Alfred John and Sarah Jane Bruton, of East Hyde Mill Cottages, New Mill End, never saw their son in uniform.

Pte Cyril Snoxell, 11370, 1st Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment), died of pneumonia at the 6th Stationary Hospital, Le Havre in France, on March 23rd, 1916. He was aged 23.

He was the son of William and Susan Snoxell, of 31 Chase Street, Luton, and shortly before his death had been home on leave.

Pte Snoxell, who would have been in the Sherwoods for six years in June 1916, was stationed in India when war broke out. His battalion was ordered home and immediately went to France, where Pte Snoxell took part in many engagements.

Pte Thomas Everitt, 3/8430, 8th Battalion Beds Regiment, was killed in action near Ypres on March 1st, 1916. His younger brother, Frederick, 15432, Essex Regiment, was killed at Loos on September 26th, 1915.

The brothers' parents, Thomas and Rhoda Everitt, of 12 Harcourt Street, Luton, heard of the second tragedy to hit their family shortly after the death of 35-year-old Thomas.

Thomas Everitt had lived in Luton until 15 years previously. He married Rosa Smith in 1897 and went to work in the paper mills at Hemel Hempstead, He left a widow and six children.

Cpl Henry Lewis Hill, 10092, 2nd Battalion Beds Regiment, was killed in France on March 14th, 1916, when fragments of shell entered a cellar in which he and other men were sheltering. A second man was also killed while the remainder escaped unhurt.

Cpl Hill, who was 24, joined the Bedfords in 1912 and was serving with the 2nd Battalion in South Africa when war was declared. He had been in France since October 1914.

Stoker First Class Charles Higgs, K/7429, was lost when the armed boarding steamer HMS Fauvette hit two mines laid by a German submarine and sank in the Thames estuary, off North Foreland, Kent, on March 9th, 1916. He was aged 25 and one of 14 crew reported missing, believed dead.

The son of James and Elizabeth Higgs, of 230 Wellington Street, Luton, the former labourer joined the Royal Navy on July 21st, 1910. He had served in the Dardanelles from the beginning of naval operations there, serving on HMS Lord Nelson until transferred to the Fauvette.

Captain Edward Emil Simeons, 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, died on February 17th, 1916, from shell wounds sustained in action near Ypres the previous day. He was aged 22.

Although the second son of Carl and Edith Simeons, of Blyth Road, Bromley, Kent, he had since 1910 lived with his uncle, Thomas Arthur Cawley, principal of the British Gelatine Works in New Bedford Road, Luton, and lived at Lea Dale, New Bedford Road. Edward was an apprentice at the Gelatine Works and there seems to have been a a further family link in that his father was a gelatine merchant.

Lieut Edmund Wallis Beck, Acting Adjutant of the 8th Bedfordshire Regiment, died of wounds in hospital at Boulogne on January 9th, 1916. He had been seriously wounded near Ypres on December 19th, 1915, while giving warning of a gas attack. He was aged 26, born in Poona, India, on July 27th, 1889.

Before leaving England, Lieut Beck represented his regiment while dining with the King and Queen. He was educated at Bracondale School, Norwich, and Wellingborough, where he was captain of the 1st eleven, and he shot at Bisley for his school.

Cyclist Henry Albert 'Harry' James, 3164, 47th London Divisional Cyclist Company, was killed in action in action in France on January 21st, 1916.

He was one of 17 employees of the Diamond Foundry in Dallow Road who joined the 17th Battalion London Regiment as a rifleman in September 1914 and transferred to the Cyclist Company when it was formed.

Harry was the only son of Job and Lizzie James, of 2 Wimbourne Road, Luton. He was aged 23.

Pte George William Rolph, 18924, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment, is officially listed as killed in action in France on January 15th, 1916. A letter from the battlefield said he was killed by a shell while on sentry duty on January 13th.

An old boy of Queen Square School, he was the son of George and Maria Rolph, of 51 Beech Road, Luton. On leaving school he worked for the British Gelatine Co Ltd in New Bedford Road as a labourer and stayed with them until January 1915, when he enlisted. He was aged 28 and had served for four years in the Territorials.

Pte Frank William Gilder, 2430, 1/24th Battalion, County of London Regiment, was killed in action at Loos on December 30th, 1915. He was aged 19.

Born in Luton in May 1896, he was the third son of William Everard Gilder and Sarah Sanderson Gilder, of 35 Moor Street, Luton, and had been with the 24th Londons since the outbreak of war. His younger brother Claude had been a member of the Luton News staff.

First-class Gunner Arthur Best, 37371, Royal Garrison Artillery, died in the Keppel Place Hospital, Stoke, Devonport, on December 23rd, 1915, after suffering two attacks of pleurisy while serving in Gibraltar that led to him contracting consumption which led to a haemorrhage.

Gunner Best, the son of Mrs Bacchus, of 61 Ivy Road, Luton, was aged 22. He had enlisted in the RGA about four years earlier, having previously worked at the Diamond Foundry in Dallow Road.