Name
Frederick George Henry Smith
11 October 1891
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/04/1917
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
19577
Bedfordshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ARRAS MEMORIAL
Bay 5.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Memorial Plaque, St Lawrence Church, Bovingdon, Memorial Plaque, Memorial Hall, Bovingdon
Pre War
Frederick George Henry Smith was born on 11 October 1891 in Kentish Town, London, the son of John Slyth and Lucy Smith and one of six children. He was baptised on 14 February 1892 at St Andrew's Church, Haverstock Hill, Camden, at which time they were living at 129 Malden Road, and his father was working as a Railway Porter.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at The Boot Pubic House, Tower Hill, Chipperfield, Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, where his father was the Publican and also gave his occupation as Railway Porter.
His parents were divorced in 1904 and on the 1911 Census he was living with his mother and brother George at Rose Cottage, Bovingdon, Boxmoor, Herts. He was then working as a Farm Labourer.
Wartime Service
Frederick enlisted at Watford and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment. After basic training he went to France with the 6th (Service) Battalion on 30 Oct 1915. They fought in the Battles of the Somme in 1916, specifically the Battle of Bazentin Ridge in July and the Battle of Pozieres Ridge in August.
He was killed in action during the Battle of Arleux (part of the Battle of Arras) near Vimy Ridge on 29 April 1917. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France.
(N,B, The Register of Soldiers' Effects gives his date of death as 23/29 April)
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £12 10s and pay owing of £14 8s 8d. She also received a pension of 5 shillings a week. Frank Simmons was killed in the same battle and is also named on the Bovingdon Memorial in St Lawrence Church.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Malcolm Lennox, Dick West, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk
