Name
William Thomas Smith
19 April 1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
28/04/1915
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
10366
Royal Scots
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 11.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial
Pre War
William Thomas Smith was born on 19 April 1888 at 39 Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of James and Ada Smith and one of seven children.
He attended Boxmoor School from 23 November 1896, having previously attended Bury Mill End School. He completed five of the six school standards before leaving on 12 April 1901 to start work as a Carpenter's Labourer. On the 1901 Census, the family were living at Zana Cottage, Cemetery Road, Hemel Hempstead where his father was recorded as a Builder - Employer, but suffering from paralysis.
On 9 July 1903 William started work as an employee of the London and North Western Railway, working as a Parcel Porter at Boxmoor Station, and resigned on 23 August 1908, prior to enlisting in the regular army on 19 September 1908. He joined the 1st Battalion, The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment), and served with D Company.
In January 1911 he suffered from Paratyphoid caused by salmonella bacteria and was in hospital for 62 days and in the following October he was diagnosed with Cholera and was ill for 39 days. Having recovered he was promoted to Lance Corporal on 31 October 1911. He was awaiting his promotion to Corporal in 1913 when he was charged with misconduct and the promotion was cancelled. He was demoted to Private with loss of pay for "Disobeying Battalion Standing Orders - Playing cards with Private soldiers in bungalow".
On the 1911 Census his parents and siblings were living at 4 Cemetery Hill, Hempstead, where his father was recorded as a former Carpenter and suffering from paralysis.
N.B. On his service record, only his mother is listed as next of kin, even though his father did not die until April 1917.
Wartime Service
He was already a serving soldier at the outbreak of war, stationed in India, but was sent, as part of the 81st Infantry Brigade, to France on 19 December 1914, arriving at Le Havre on 21 December.
William was re-appointed Lance Corporal on 15 February 1915 whilst the Battalion were in trenches at Dickebusch, Belgium, where they had been since 10 January. They remained there until they moved to Sanctuary Wood, east of Ypres on 12 April where they were subjected to German short-range mortars which resulted in heavy casualties. William was one of those killed in action and died on 28 April 1915, aged 27, although his mother did not receive official notification of his death until later in the year on 12 August
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.
Additional Information
Brother to Horace and Arthur Smith who both served in the war but survived. His mother received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £11 9s 8d. Pension records also suggest that his mother received a pension of 3s 6d a week, which later rose to 4s 2d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
www.hemelheroes.com., www.dacorumheritage.org.uk., www.hemelatwar.org.
