BORN HULL 1895. SON OF JOSHUA & CLARA SMITH, OF 5, DEIGHTON TERRACE, PORTER STREET, HULL AND 197 HESSLE ROAD, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESSES). HE HAD THREE BROTHERS (JAMES, JOSHUA & HARRY) & TWO SISTERS (SARAH ANN & ROSEY). HE WORKED AS A BAKER & LIVED WITH HIS MARRIED SISTER, SARAH ANN OFFEN, AT 48, PORTER STREET, HULL (ARMY ADDRESS). HE WASDECRIBED AS 5 FOOT, 4.5 INCHES TALL, 123 LBS WEIGHT, 35 INCH CHEST, BLUE EYES, LIGHT BROWN HAIR & GOOD PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT. ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS, PN 7 SEPT 1914. SERVED WITH THE 11TH EYR IN EGYPT AND FRANCE.  WOUNDED IN THE RIGHT ARM & HAND, AT SERRE ON 13/11/1916. POSTED BACK TO FRANCE WITH THE 7TH & 6TH EYR ON 17/01/1917. KILLED IN ACTION, ON 21/08/1917, AGED 22. HIS NAME IS RECORDED ON THE SOUTHCOATES LANE MEMORIAL. (HIS UNCLE LIVED AT COTTON TERRACE, BARNSLEY STREET, HULL).

Hull Pals Post - It is known that he enlisted at Hull City Hall, on Monday 7th September 1914, just by his regimental number. That was the first day of recruitment for the 2nd Hull Pals Battalion, the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, nicknamed 'The Tradesmen', seen as further down the social ladder than the men of the 10th Battalion, 'The Commercials'. If he managed to avoid a serious wound, or a spell in prison, then he will have been a veteran of Egypt, the Somme and Oppy Wood, but his luck ran out at Vimy Ridge. This William Smith was killed in action on 21st August 1917 and buried at New Irish Farm Cemetery. This particular cemetery was very small at the time of the Armistice and enlarged in the months and years after as bodies were exhumed from smaller plots on the surrounding battlefields and taken there for reburial. Perhaps William was among the original graves and his rest undisturbed, perhaps not?