Name
Percy George Smith
17 July 1893
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/09/1918
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Sapper
101467
Royal Engineers
247th Field Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CANTAING BRITISH CEMETERY
E. 4.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
Percy George Smith was born on 17 July 1893 in Paradise, Hemel Hempstead, the son of William and Emily Smith, and one of nine children, although older brother Richard died in 1900 aged 23. He was baptised on 17 September 1893 at St John the Evangelist Church, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead.
Percy was educated at Boxmoor School from 1 February 1899 at age 5 and had achieved four of the seven Standards by the time he left on 9 November 1906 to work as a Telegraph Boy.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at Paradise, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Chemist's assistant and dispenser. His father William died on 10 February 1911, aged 61 and on the 1911 Census he was living with his widowed mother and 4 siblings at Hill View Cottage, Paradise, Hemel Hempstead, which included his married sister Nellie Massey along with her two children.
In 1908 he was indentured to Mr Charles Hildesley who ran a gas fitting business at 83 High Street, Hemel Hempstead. He completed his apprenticeship early in 1915 and asked permission to leave to join up in the army.
He was a member of the church choir at St John the Evangelist, Boxmoor and a member of the Borough Choral Society. He was also a member of the Church of England Men's Society and prior to enlistment he was one of the first to join the local Special Constabulary.
(His sister Lucy died in 1915 aged 36 and sister Gertrude died in 1918, aged 30, from Spanish Flu, a month after Percy's death.)
Wartime Service
Percy enlisted on 25 May 1915 at Hemel Hempstead and joined the Royal Engineers, hoping to use his skills as a gas fitter to good use. He was posted to Chatham for the RE training course and sent to France in early 1916, being posted to the 247th Field Company, Royal Engineers.
He first saw serious action in the Battle of Ancre in November 1916 and in 1917 was in action during the Arras Offensive and the Third Battle of Ypres at Passchendaele in November, finishing at Welsh Ridge at the end of December.
The 247th Field Company were in action again at the Battles of the Somme in 1918 and the "final push" from August. In late September Percy was at Cantaing, France and had just returned to the camp following work on a nearby bridge, when the war diary recorded "the camp at F28d63 was shelled and 1 OR was killed and 3 OR were wounded..". Percy was the OR (other ranks) who was killed, aged 25, and is buried in Cantaing British Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His mother received a war gratuity of £15 10s and pay owing of £13 16s 5d. She also received a pension of 6 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
www.hemelheroes.com., www.dacorumheritage.co.uk., www.hemelatwar.org.
