Name
William Smith
1877
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
28/03/1918
42
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Gunner
163881
Royal Garrison Artillery
1st/1st (Highland) Heavy Bty.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ANZIN-ST. AUBIN BRITISH CEMETERY
IV. A. 21.
France
Headstone Inscription
PEACE PERFECT PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Hemel Hempstead Memorials, Ramsey War Memorial, Hunts, Ely War Memorial, Hunts
Pre War
(Owen) William Smith was born in Ramsey, Huntingdonshire in 1877, the son of Owen and Sarah Smith. On the 1891 Census the family were living at The Black Horse, Ramsey, Hunts where his father was a Turf Dealer and Publican and William was a Clerk in a Corn Dealer's Office. They remained at the Black Horse in 1901.
He married Gertrude Annie Sawyer in Huntingdon in the summer of 1910 in Ramsey and on the 1911 Census they were living at 10 Lynfield Terrace, Lynn Road, Ely, Cambridgeshire. His occupation was then given as Corn Traveller.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and served as a Gunner with the 1st/1st (Highland) Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery
He was killed in action on 28 March 1918, aged 42, during the First Battle of Arras 1918, and is buried in Anzin-St Aubin British Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £12 15s 5d. She also received a pension of 13s 9d, later rising to £1 3s 4d a week. She was living at Wood Hall, Hamel Hampstead [sic] when she ordered his headstone inscription: "Peace, perfect peace", She later lived at 9 Lynfield Terrace, Lyn Road, Ely, Cambs. N.B. William Smith seems to be only called Owen William Smith on CWGC records, all other records name him only a William.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
roll-of-honour.com.
