Jack Smith (c.1897-1915)

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This page is part of a project by David Verguson to research the lives of those who appear on war memorials and rolls of honour in the Lindley area.

Biography

Jack Smith was the son of Joe Willie and Mary Smith, of 4, Ainley Top, Lindley, Huddersfield.

The Smith family lived at 18 Ainley Top for over thirty years: Joe and Mary Smith and their children were there for the 1891 census were still at the address when they had the sad duty of completing the "next of kin" details for deceased soldiers in April 1919.

They may have looked towards Elland as their town: they give Elland as Jack's birthplace on the 1901 census and he was born at Ainley Top, in 1897. On the form mentioned above, nonetheless, they give the postal address of the village as "near Lindley". This may explain that while Jack's death is recorded in the Huddersfield newspaper he appears only on the Elland memorial.

Joe William Smith was born in 1855 in Elland and married Mary Robertshaw in the summer of 1872 when they must both have been only seventeen years of age. Their first child may well have been born soon after; by 1891 they had eight children living at home, the oldest, Emma, born two years after they married.

In total the couple had fourteen children of whom ten survived childhood, a proportion not unusual in late Victorian times.

Joe worked as a clay miner, probably at the Blackley brick works. In 1891 the three eldest children were at work. All girls, two worked as "worsted operatives". The third, Elizabeth, was a "Milk Hawker" no doubt selling the milk produced at the nearby farm. In 1898 she married John Hollas a brickmaker, who probably worked at the Blackley works with her father, and moved down into Elland.

The house at Ainley Top had only five rooms yet in 1891 as well as the eight children they family had a boarder, Ben Robertshaw, a widow, and his six-year-old son Eddie living with them. It seems likely that this was Mary's brother who the couple had taken in and after whom their son Ben, born in 1883, was named; Mary probably took care of Eddie along with her own children, while Ben worked as a pot maker.

Ben married Sarah Leeming in 1898 and by 1911 they were living three houses away at no. 15 Ainley Top with their three surviving children.

By the time of the 1911 census only three of the Smith children were still living ta home. Edward, aged 18, was a weaver, Hilda, 16, was a spinner, and Jack, only 14, was a 'doffer'. He described his occupation as "taker-off. Worsted spinning" at Crossley's of Elland, on his army enlistment form.

Most of the rest of the family lived down in Elland or in Ainley top. One daughter, Sarah, lived on Lidget Street, Lindley.

Unusual among the men of Lindley, Jack enlisted in the 4th Battalion, The West Riding Regiment (The Duke of Wellington's), the Halifax Territorial battalion, at Elland, in 1912, which accounts for his low service number. He was only 17 years and three months old.

At his medical on 26 April, he was described as "very fit". His height was 5' 3" and his chest 32½", with a range of expansion of 2½". No vaccinations were recorded. He was considered "fit for service" by the Medical Officer W F Denning.

We know a little of his service in the pre-war volunteers: there was annual training at Flamborough and Aberystwth and on 26 July 1914 the battalion was a Marske in North Yorkshire as the crisis in Europe worsened. Jack was "Embodied", that is mobilized into full time service on 5 August 1914 the day after Britain declared war on Germany. On the 17th, Jack signed a form signifying his willingness to serve abroad. At that time the Battalion was stationed at Great Coates on the Lincolnshire side of the Humber estuary, on coastal defence duties and remained there until November.[1]

Eight months later after a period when it was stationed in Doncaster, the Battalion was sent to France, sailing with the rest of the West Riding Division on 14 April 1915 from Folkestone to Boulogne, sailing on the SS Invicta, with many other men from the Huddersfield and Elland district.

At first the division was concentrated in northern France in the area of Estaires, Merville and Neuf Berquion. It took part in the Battle of Aubers Ridge in May but by December they were near Ypres in Belgium.

On the 19th of December the Division, including the Dukes, was attacked with phosgene gas, its first use in the war. On the following day Jack was killed in action. He had 3 years, 238 days recognised service, perhaps because of his time in the Territorial Force, one of the longest serving soldiers on our list. Jack is buried at the Talana Farm Cemetery near Ypres along with over 500 other Allied soldiers.

A tick-sheet of Jack's possessions sent to his mother is difficult to read. It seems as well as a identity disc he had photos, postcards, pliers and some letters. His mother seems to have asked after a fountain pen.

Jack was survived by two brothers, who may themselves have served in the army, and seven sisters. It seems likely that he is the "J Smith" remembered on the Elland war memorial in the park at Hullenedge Road alongside that of Norman Gledhill, another Lindley man.

Jack's sister, Mary Ellen, married William Firth in 1909, went to live in Burn Road, Birchencliffe and gave birth to at least one son who sadly died. William himself was killed in July 1917; Mary seems to have re-married in 1921.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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Notes and References

  1. Territorials had only enrolled for home duties and had to specifically sign up for service overseas, as many did after the outbreak of war.