The Leslie Smith family
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My mother's father was James Robert Leslie Smith, the fourth eldest of five brothers and one sister:
- Robert Leslie Smith ("Leslie")
- Margaret Graham Smith ("Peggy")
- Walter Sinclair Smith
- James Robert Leslie Smith (my grandfather)
- John Graham Smith ("Johnny")
- Eric Sinclair Smith
Johnny (shown in the photograph below), was a keen photographer and is responsible for many of the WW1 photographs in this website.
Walter (also shown below) was a tragically early casualty of the war. His death was made more tragic by the fact that he was killed during the unofficial Christmas truce of 1914. He served with the Cameronians (5th Scottish Rifles), and on Christmas Day 1914 they were in the trenches near Armentieres. The following extract is from a history of the battalion published in 1936 ("The Fifth Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) 1914-1919", published by Jackson Son & Co., Glasgow):
...but towards the late afternoon on Christmas day a stray shot from our right front hit one of ours, 6179 Cpl W.S. Smith no 2 company (from which he died next day). The Saxons opposite us were at pains to let us know it was a Prussian who had fired the shot which killed Smith. This broke the spell however and the war was resumed after a truce of twenty-four hours.
The battalion moved out of the line less than 24 hours later. The Roll of Honour includes "Walter Sinclair Smith from Dunoon Argyll Enlisted Glasgow".
My thanks to Bernard Pass of Bosleys Military Auctioneers and Valuers for the details given above. We knew the date of Walter's death, and the story passed down in the family was that it was a stray shot fired during the unofficial truce in 1914 that killed him, but until Bernard uncovered the information in the book referred to above, we had no confirmation of this.
Pictured below from left to right:
Walter, an un-named friend, Johnny, and their father, James Robert Leslie Smith (senior).
Walter's original grave marker, December 1914.
Newspaper clipping from early 1915.
The newspaper clipping shown above reads as follows:
THE LATE CORPORAL SMITH
Dunoon and Kilmun School Board have resolved to send a minute of sympathy to the family of Corporal Smith, of the 5th Cameronians, who was killed in the trenches on Christmas Day.
Corporal Smith's family were closely connected with the public life of Dunoon, his grandfather having been Provost and his father a Town Councillor and Major of the local artillery. Both carried on business for many years in the town.
The young corporal was known to everybody in Dunoon, having been an enthusiastic member of the Grammar School Cadet Corps, which is recognised by the War Office and attached to the 8th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
Walter was one of the first soldiers to be buried in what would later become the Cité Bonjean Military Cemetery at Armentieres in France, now cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (their website includes a searchable database of Commonwealth war grave records).
A copy of Walter's record from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database.
Photographs from Cité Bonjean Military Cemetery, 2004-2005.
For more details of the Leslie Smith family and what happened to them during the First World War, see the page about their father, James Robert Leslie Smith (senior) in the section about The Leslie Smith Family.
Corporal Robert Leslie Smith sniping at Germans only 50 yards away. Chapelle, D'Armentieres, January 1915.
(This photograph also appears on the "Armentieres" page)
Captain R Leslie Smith and NCO's, 'C' Company, 8th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders - all wear the 1914 Mons Star. Charleroi, Belgium, 1919.
(This photograph also appears on the "Charleroi" page)
O.C. 'C' Company (Captain Robert Leslie Smith), Company Sergeant Major, Company Quartermaster Sergeant. Charleroi, Belgium, 1919.
(This photograph also appears on the "Charleroi" page)
Captain Robert Leslie Smith in dress uniform with kilt.
Review the list of books about the First World War currently available on Amazon.co.uk.
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Acceptable use
The photographs shown on this page belong to my mother, Mrs J Smillie. You are welcome to copy and use them for educational and other non-commercial purposes (we'd love to know about it if you do, though). To discuss other uses, please email me at dms@zetnet.co.uk. Thank you.
Photographs used by kind permission of Mrs J Smillie. All rights reserved.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/dms/past/smith.html
© 1998-2005 Donna Smillie <dms@zetnet.co.uk>