Tuesday, 4 April 2017

Luton Mayor's Son Wounded



John Henry Staddon, formerly Mayor of Luton, as High Sheriff of Bedfordshire 1938-9 [Z49/261]

Wednesday 4th April 1917: News has been received of two of the sons of Luton’s Mayor John Henry Staddon. His eldest son, Lieutenant Wilfred Staddon, was initially reported missing in action in September last year, but was soon afterwards found in a Red Cross Hospital in Rouen suffering from a bullet wound in the back. He had been at home in Luton recovering from his injury, but was making only slow progress and has now been admitted to hospital in Cambridge for further treatment. Lieutenant Staddon enlisted in the Inns of Court Officers’ Training Corps (known as “The Devil’s Own”) in May 1915 and was commissioned in the East Surrey Regiment in the following September. The Mayor’s youngest son Lieutenant C. E. Staddon has written to his parents to tell them he has arrived safely in India. He was met on his arrival by the Revd. Frank Hart; formerly connected with the Waller Street Methodist Circuit in Luton, he is now the senior Wesleyan Chaplain in Bombay.

Sources: Luton News 21 September 1916 & 5th April 1917 [for more information on Lt. Wilfred Staddon see Luton WW1]

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