Name
Julian Missenden Smeathman
24 December 1887
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/10/1914
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Royal Engineers
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 9.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead, St Mary's Church Memorial Window & Plaque, Hemel Hempstead, Lockers Park School Memorial, Hemel Hempstead, Rugby School Memorial Chapel, Memorial Plaque, All Saints Church, Minstead, Hampshire
Pre War
Julian Missenden Smeathman was born In 24 December 1887 in Great Missenden, Bucks, the second son of Lovel and Frances Smeathman and one of three children.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 51 Piccotts End, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was a solicitor.
He was initially educated at Lockers Park School and on the 1901 Census he was listed as a boarder at Lockers Park School, Hemel Hempstead along with his brother Cecil. He then went on to Rugby School.
He was admitted to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich as an officer cadet in 1905, and joined the 55th Field Company, Corps of Royal Engineers as 2nd Lieutenant on 23 July 1907. Shortly afterwards he was sent to South Africa and whilst there was promoted to Lieutenant in April 1910. He took leave back in the UK on a few occasions and was at his parents' home on the night of the 1911 Census, when the family were living at South Hill House, Heath Lane, Hemel Hempstead and Julian was listed as a Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers.
At the outbreak of war he was recalled from South Africa to join the 7th Infantry Division and on his return to England he married Gladys Monica Browne, the daughter of the Reverend Gordon Browne, Vicar of Lympstone, Devon, on 1 October 1914 at All Saints Church, Minstead, Hampshire, spending a few days in Hemel Hempstead before embarking for Belgium.
(N.B. The Smeathman family were prominent citizens of Hemel Hempstead. Cecil's father was a solicitor and JP and was made the first Freeman of the Borough in 1929 for his long public service to the town, having been Town Clerk and a member of numerous local committees.)
Wartime Service
Julian was a serving Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers at the outbreak of war and went to Belgium on 7 October 1914. Once there his company assisted in the defence of Antwerp to allow for the evacuation of Belgian troops, then occupied positions at Ypres.
He was killed in action on 24 October 1914, age 26, during the Battle of Langemarck, part of the first Battle of Ypres, on the same day that his younger brother Cecil died of wounds. Julian was one of 7,960 British soldiers killed in the First Battle of Ypres.
His parents received the news that both sons had died by two telegrams delivered within half an hour of each other.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.
Additional Information
His brother Cecil died on the same day as Julian and is also commemorated on the Hemel Hempstead & Boxmoor Memorials. A memorial service was held at St Mary's Church, Hemel Hempstead in November and later the dedication of a stained glass window in the church, to commemorate the sacrifice made by the two brothers. The plaque under the memorial window at St Mary's, Hemel Hempstead, dedicated to Julian and his brother Cecil, has the inscription "Lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their death they were not divided."
His widow received a war gratuity of £40 and pay owing of £3 2s 11d. Probate was granted to his widow Gladys Monica Smeathman with effects of £319 5s 8d. She never remarried and died in Exeter in 1960 aged 72. His older brother Lovel Francis Smeathman was wounded on active service with the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment but recovered and survived the war.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com, www.rugbyschoolarchives.co.uk, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org, Sharon Forbes
