Name
William Smith
22 January 1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/09/1916
29
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
4214
Hertfordshire Regiment
1st/1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CONTAY BRITISH CEMETERY, CONTAY
I. A. 12.
France
Headstone Inscription
HE LOVED LIFE AND GOD GAVE HIM A LONG LIFE EVEN FOREVER AND EVER
UK & Other Memorials
London Colney Village Memorial,
Shenley Village Memorial,
Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford(*1)
Pre War
William Smith was born in Shenley, Herts on 22 January 1888, the son of George and Esther Smith, and baptised on 18 March 1888 at Frogmore, Herts. He was one of seven children, although his sister Bertha died at the age of three in 1885.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Low Bell Lane, Shenley, London Colney, (next door to his paternal grandparents) where his father was working as a labourer. They remained there in 1901 and his father was working as a navvy. 13 year old William was then working as a farmer's boy.
He married Fanny Marslin on 29 May 1909 at London Colney, Herts and in 1911 they were living at 1 Garretts Yard, London Colney with his widowed father-in-law, Thomas Marslin. William was then working as a ploughman on a farm. The following year they had a daughter Ivy Marie Rosalind Smith, born 21 November 1912.
Prior to enlistment, William was employed as a ploughman at Napsbury Farm, which was part of the Middlesex County Asylum, a mental hospital which opened in 1905. He gave his address as 1 Dragon Yard, London Colney, St Albans, Herts on enlistment. (N.B. Dragon Yard was behind the Green Dragon Public House, London Colney.)
Wartime Service
William enlisted on 7 December 1914 at Hertford and joined the Hertfordshire Regiment, serving in France from 10 July 1915. He joined the battalion in the field on 14 July as part of a draft of 70 men and one officer arriving from England.
He would have fought in the Battle of Loos in September 1915 and the Battles of the Somme, the following year.
He died of wounds at the 49th Casualty Clearing Station on 2 September 1916, aged 29, and is buried in Contay British Cemetery, Contay, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £7 10s and pay owing of £2 7s 6d. She also received a pension of 15s a week for herself and her daughter Ivy.
Brother of Herbert Smith who also served with the 1st Battalion Hertfordshire Regiment and died on 13 November 1916, aged 23. His brother Arthur served with the Royal Horse Artillery and Bertie was a private with the Royal West Kent Regiment. Both survived the war.
N.B. online records of the service record for William Smith are confused with Stephen Smith, also of Herts Regt.
Acknowledgments
Taff Williams, Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, shenleyww1.wordpress.com
