Ministry of Defence

Lest We Forget

The Royal British Legion

About

England
- England A-G
  - Bedfordshire
  - Berkshire
  - Buckinghamshire
  - Cambridgeshire
  - Cheshire
  - Cornwall
  - Cumberland
  - Derbyshire
  - Devon
  - Dorset
  - Durham
  - Essex
  - Gloucestershire
- England H-M
- England N-S
  - Norfolk
  - Northamptonshire
  - Northumberland
  - Nottinghamshire
  - Oxfordshire
  - Rutland
  - Shropshire
  - Somerset
  - Staffordshire
  - Suffolk
  - Surrey
  - Sussex
- England W-Z

Scotland

Wales

N. Ireland
- Antrim
- Armagh
- Down
- Fermanagh
- Tyrone
- Londonderry/Derry

UK Islands
- Alderney
- Guernsey
- Jersey
- Sark
- Isle of Man

Overseas

Databases

General Info

Military

IN MEMORY OF
LYNDA SMITH
WHO PASSED AWAY DECEMBER 2007
A PROLIFIC CONTRIBUTOR
TO THIS SITE
SHE WILL BE SORELY MISSED

Bedfordshire War Memorials & Rolls of Honour

These pages are being transcribed and photographed by Bedfordshire Family History Society and its members with help from a few others. To learn more about the Society see their website.

Currently we have a huge backlog of around 3,500+ memorials to put on-line and between 20,000-30,000 edits to existing memorials. This is a voluntarily run website and we are currently inundated due to the start of the centenary events marking the start of World War 1. Although we do try to reply to emails the volume is such that we cannot guarantee a response, sorry but there is a huge amount of emails coming in and it is just not possible.

Throughout Bedfordshire there are various memorials and rolls of honour dedicated to those men and women who fell in various wars. These memorials and rolls cover many centuries in some cases, most World War One and Two.

During any conflict there are certain acts of bravery or defiance that are noticeable above others. For these acts citations and medals have been awarded. There is a list of some of the Bedfordshire people who have carried out such acts and the award or citation given. There were seven awards of the Victoria Cross to the Bedfordshire Regiment during World War 1.

The other source of information is photographs andd there are several that have been supplied without details - do you know who they are?

There is a page devoted to military background connected to Bedfordshire on this site.

These pages are available for transcripts of these memorials and rolls of honour. If you have a transcription of, or you are willing to transcribe, a Bedfordshire memorial or roll of honour for these pages then please contact me, the email address is below.

Current acknowledgements for assistance with these pages must go to Bedfordshire Family History Society - thank you all.

For those of you with an interest in the World War 1 there is The British Army in the Great War, World War 1 - Trenches on the Web, The Western Front Association and The Regimental Warpath websites. There is a site containing a quick synopsis of the Bedfordshire Regiment 1914-18.

World War I Army Ancestry (Third edition)

For further reading when researching World War 1 relatives then there is a book published by the Federation of Family History Societies for family Historians entitled "World War I Army Ancestry - Third Edition" by Norman Holding ISBN 1 86006 056 2.

If anybody has information for those of the Second World War, Boer War, or the like similar to those supplied for the First World War then I would gladly post these as well. For more information about the BFHS project and transcribing see 'The BFHS War Memorial Project'.

Please Note: Every attempt has been made to transcribe this information accurately but there are occasions that the information supplied is incorrect or errors occur during transcription. We do not wish to cause offence to any families of the men detailed here and will change the relevant information when informed.

Also note that places detailed on these memorials may appear in the wrong county. This information has been transcribed from the records given and, as the men were parochial, the information supplied at enlistment was the view of the men and the county they thought they resided in.

World War 1 & 2 - Bedfordshire Selection

Pre-1914 - Memorial Selection

World War 1 & 2 Bedfordshire

Pre-1914

The Bedfordshire
Regiment
in the Great War

See our on-line bookstore
Visit our bookstal powered by Amazon

DONATIONS

This site is maintained solely by volunteers and is funded by them as private individuals. This includes the purchase of photographs, books, rolls of honour plus the running costs of the site. We have always intended to make this site free to all. If you have gained from this site then please consider making a donation through PayPal by clicking on the donation button. Thank you.

If you would like to donate but not on-line then cheques can be made payable to, and sent to:

Martin Edwards
88 Laurel Walk
Kempston
Bedford
MK42 7NT

Bedfordshire - Searchable Databases On-Line

Men Who Died from Beds, Cambs & Hunts
Boer War

This database is built from the details found on the Boer War memorials located in Bedford, Cambridge, Ely, Huntingdon, Peterborough and St Albans.

Search the database

Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regt - Men Who Died
World War 2

This database contains details of the men who served in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment and died during the Second World War. Links to any war memorials in the United Kingdom that these men are known to exist on are also provided plus photographs of either the men of their graves.

Search the database

Bedfordshire Yeomanry 148 Fld Regt -
Served World War 2

This database contains details of the men who served in the Bedfordshire Yeomanry, 148th Field Regiment and includes the 258 men who died during the Second World War. Links to any war memorials in the United Kingdom that these men are known to exist on are also provided plus photographs of either the men of their graves.

Search the database

Kempston (Bedfordshire) Men Who Served
World War 1

This database contains details of the men who served in the Great War 1914-1918 as detailed by William Owen, Chairman Kempston Urban District Council 1919 and added to from other sources. Links to any war memorials in the United Kingdom that these men are known to exist on are also provided plus photographs of either the men of their graves.

Search the database

Bedfordshire Regt, 5th Battalion Deaths
World War 1

This database contains details of the men who served in the 5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment and died during the First World War. Links to any war memorials in the United Kingdom that these men are known to exist on are also provided plus photographs of either the men of their graves.

Search the database

Bedfordshire Regt, 1st/1st Garrison Batts Deaths
World War 1

This database contains details of the men who served in the 1st and 1st Garrison Battalions, Bedfordshire Regiment and died during the First World War. Links to any war memorials in the United Kingdom that these men are known to exist on are also provided plus photographs of either the men of their graves.

Search the database

Bedfordshire Yeomanry Deaths
World War 1

This database contains details of the men who served in the Bedfordshire Yeomanry and died during the First World War. Links to any war memorials in the United Kingdom that these men are known to exist on are also provided plus photographs of either the men of their graves.

Search the database

Bedfordshire Regt, DCM Awards
World War 1

This database contains details of the men who were awarded the DCM while serving with the Bedfordshire Regiment during World War 1. The details of the citation and a lot more information in many cases is available.

Search the database

Learn about the
UNITED KINGDOM NATIONAL INVENTORY OF WAR MEMORIALS
and do not forget the
Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regimental Museum

ukflying.gif - 31995 Bytes

NEWS AND REVIEWS

This section contains various news reports and cuttings, old and new, with reference to the memorials in and around Bedfordshire. To view the section please click here.

An article about the project appeared in the Luton News in February 2003

The various memorials and cemeteries maintained by the War Graves Commission for the Western Front are described and pictured on the Internet. Details of Kranji War Cemetery can be found on MyFarEast website.

To gain an overview of all the towns and parishes covered, and hopefully to be covered, by this site there is an alphabetical index.

Some of the cap badges are laid out, on a separate page.

Not all memorials were to people; there are memorials to various types of animal that served and fell in World War I for example, dogs. There is a brief explanation of the working of dogs during the war.

Links to other sites that you may find useful.

Photographs and postcards covering various memorials surface all the time. Here are a few pictures of memorial home and abroad.

"D" Company, 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment - World War 1

World War 1 - 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment relaxing in the billiard room

The Officers, 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment circa 1906

War Memorials Trust

Friends of War Memorials is a charity dedicated to promoting awareness of the debt we owe to those who gave their lives in the cause of freedom, by ensuring that their memorials are properly maintained and preserved.

The Maple Leaf Legacy Project

A Millennium Project in Remembrance of Canada's War Dead

There is an AIRCRAFT & AIRCREW CASUALTIES INFORMATION ARCHIVE for BEDFORDSHIRE maintained by Colin Mackenzie of Turvey.

The Police

Police Constable Robert HOUSDEN died in the line of duty serving the Bedfordshire Community in 1952 when warning traffic of a flood. He left a young widow who gave birth to his son a few months later

Much information about soldiers who fell, were awarded medals and more is to be found in old copies of the London Gazette. Here is a brief resume:

The London Gazette, first published in 1665, is the oldest, continuously published newspaper in the United Kingdom and probably the world. The London Gazette and its sister publications, the Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes, have a unique position in British publishing. They are official newspapers of the Crown. The London Gazette contains a wide range of office notices including State, Parliamentary and Ecclesiastical notices, Transport and Planning notices as well as Corporate and Personal Insolvency notices to name a few. In addition, a number of Supplements are published covering Honours and Awards, Premium Bonds, Armed Forces Promotions and Re-gradings, Companies' information, etc. and a Quarterly Index.

In the 17th century, it was believed that National efficiency depended on the intelligence received by the Crown and that the reckless publishing of news might endanger it. An embargo on the printing of news other than reports of events abroad, natural disasters, Royal declarations and sensational crime continued until 1640. This had the effect of delaying the development of the press in the UK. Censorship was introduced in 1643, followed by licensing of news publications. The Gazette came about because of two momentous events: the Great Plague and the decision of King Charles II to remove his court - effectively the government of the time - to Oxford. The London Gazette started life as the Oxford Gazette and after a few months changed to its current title.

Last updated 15 March, 2023

War Memorials Trust