Name
Joseph Smith
22 November 1885
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
25/07/1915
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
4/7236
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ST. VAAST POST MILITARY CEMETERY, RICHEBOURG-L'AVOUE
I. G. 4.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted Town Memorial, St Peter's Church Memorial, Berkhamsted
Pre War
Joseph Smith was born on 22 November 1885 in Berkhamsted, Herts, the son of Charles and Sarah Smith, and one of 18 children, 7 of whom had died by 1911. He was baptised on 22 November 1885.
At the time of the 1891 Census the family were living at 11 High Street, Berkhamsted and his father was working as a General Labourer. They had moved to 16 & 17 Red Lion Yard, Great Berkhamsted in 1901, where his father was working as a General Labourer. Fifteen year old Joseph was also working as a general labourer, along with older brothers Herbert and George.
He married Florence Edith Digby in 1909 in Hemel Hempstead and on the 1911 Census they were living at 8 Wilderness, Berkhamsted, with their son Joseph Charles, who was born in 1910. They later had another child Sarah Kathleen, born in 1911 and his wife also had another daughter Edith Florence who was born in 1906. On the 1911 Census Edith had been living with her uncle Thomas London in Great Berkhamsted.
Wartime Service
Joseph enlisted in Hertford and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment, serving in France from 17 March 1915 with the 2nd Battalion. He was one of a draft of 101 men who joined the Battalion in the field on 20 March.
In April they were involved in night patrols and working parties and in May moved to trenches near Festubert in preparation for an attack which took place between 16 and 25 May. There were many casualties, some being drowned in the ditches. This was then followed by the Second Action at Givenchy on 15 June,
Joseph was killed in action on 25 July 1915 when the Battalion were in trenches near Robecq, north of Bethune, France. He is buried at St Vaast Post Military Cemetery, Richebourg-L-Avoue, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £1 2s 7d. She also received a pension of £1 0s 6d for herself and her children. She later remarried in Canada.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.bedfordregiment.org.uk/2ndbn
