Name
Walter Smith
16/04/1895
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/10/1914
29
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
6452
Gloucestershire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star (with Clasp & Roses), British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 22 and 34.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
He has no Headstone. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial to the Fallen, Ypres, Belgium.
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin, British Schools Museum Memorial, Hitchin, St Ippolyts Village Memorial, St Ippolyts Church Roll of Honour, Not on the Great Offley Village memorials
Pre War
Walter was born on the 16th April 1885, in Offley, Herts. The son of William Smith a Police Constable and Ellen Smith (née Kirby), who had married in 1878. Walter was Baptised on the 27th September 1885, in Offley, Herts. One of 13 children.
In 1891 the family were living at The Cottage, Main Street, Offley. Present were both parents: William (46) and Ellen (35). William was a police constable. Their children were: William J (11), George Robert (9), Arthur Charles (8), Walker (5), Ethel M (3) and Margaret M at 6 months.
By 1901 the family had moved to Walkern Street, Walkern, Hitchin where William was the police constable. Both parents were present and of the above children William and George were absent and Walter, now 15 was working in a bakery. New siblings were Olive (8), Ellen (5) and John (3).
Walter had married Caroline Lousia Miles (b 24/11/1880) on 28 May 1910 in the Church of St Mary the Virgin, High Ongar, Essex.
By the 1911 census his parents and many of his siblings were living in Gosmore Road, Hitchin, William had retired and was a police pensioner. The census recorded they had been married for 33 years with 13 children, of whom 1 had died. Of their children previously listed William, George, Arthur, John were present, with new siblings Harold T (9), Charles H (6) and Henry (4).
Walter (26) and Caroline (30) were living at 3 St Ippolyts, near Hitchin and he was working as a drayman. The census recorded they had been married for under 6 months years and had one child, a baby girl, five days old and who would later be named Violet Irene. Also present was a nurse, Sarah Ann Fiskett (44). They had another daughter, Elaine Gordon on 26 February 1913.
Officially he was recorded as born in Offley, Herts and enlisting in London.
Wartime Service
Walter was in the 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment with the service number 6452 and his medal cards show that he disembarked with his Battalion in Le Havre, France, on the 13th August 1914. For him to have gone to France this early in the was means that he was either a serving soldier, in the Army Reserve or possibly a Territorial soldier. In the absence of his service record, it must be presumed that he served between the 1901 and 1911 census..
Walter was Killed in Action on the 29th October 1914, at the Battle of Gheluvelt, Flanders. (29th -31st October 1914), but he must have first been posted as missing because a Miss M Smith Presumably his sister Margaret) of 161 High Street Cheshunt, Herts. England, wrote the Red Cross – 23 Rue de la Paix, Paris in November 1914. The enquiries were fruitless, and death was presumed. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, to the fallen.
Additional Information
After his death £8 6s 2d pay owing was authorised to go to his widow, Caroline, on 15 February 1915. Later, a war gratuity of £5 was authorised to be paid to her on 30 October 1919.
His pension cards record Caroline Louisa Smith as his widow and as his dependant along with their children Violet Irene (b 29/3/1911) and Elaine Gordon (b 26/2/1913), living at 3 St Ippolyts, Hitchin. She was awarded a pension of 18s 6d a week from 20 September 1915 for her and the children, however this was increased to 21s from 24 November 1915.
Walter was the brother of Arthur Charles (18302 Bedford Regt.) and George Robert Smith (4680 9th Hussars) who are mentioned on one pension card along with their mother Mrs Ellen Smith of Gosmore Road, Hitchin, however they do not appear to have been killed, or at least they do not appear in the CWGC database.
Acknowledgments
Stuart Osborne
Adrian Pitts, Stuart Osborne
