Private 7928, William James Smith, Northamptonshire Regiment, (formerly Private G/24642, 7th Queens Regiment (Royal West Surrey Regiment) and Private 12574 East Surrey Regiment).

William James Smith was born in Stoney Stratford in 1885, to parents George and Mary Smith (née Atkins).

William’s father was a farm labourer whilst his mother Mary looked after the family home in Yardley Gobion, a small village which sat to the north of Pottersbury in West Northamptonshire.

At the time of his birth in 1885, William was George and Mary’s sixth child and third son, his siblings being: his brother Frank (born in 1874), his second brother George (born in 1878), his eldest sister Florence (born in 1880), his second sister Lillian (born in 1882) and his youngest sister Thirza (born in 1884).  

The national census of 1891 shows that whilst William was still at school, his big brothers Frank and George had followed in the family patriarch’s footsteps and were working as labourers too.

Ten years later and sixteen-year-old William had followed suit, with the 1901 census confirming that he was also working as an agricultural labourer. This census also shows that William’s father George had graduated somewhat and was now a “horse keeper” on a farm.  At this time it’s also confirmed that William had gained two more brothers, Fred and Albert, and a third sister named Winifred.

William James Smith enlisted in Northampton on the 28th of February 1906, aged 21 years and two months. He enlisted on a nine/three basis, committing to:

“...first nine years in Army Service and for the remaining three years in the First Class of the Army Reserve."

At the time of his enlistment he stood five feet six and three-quarter inches in height and weighed nine stone four pounds. He enjoyed a fresh complexion and had grey eyes and brown hair.

William's enlistment was signed off by Major M. Gilley on the 3rd of March 1906.

He was discharged on the 23rd of May 1906, after just fifty-four days service. However, he re-joined again on the outbreak of World War 1.

William died on the 4th of April 1918 in France and today, is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial at Panel 14/15. 

Pozieres is a village that sits around four miles north-east of the town of Albert. The Memorial encloses Pozieres British Cemetery which is a little south-west of the village on the north side of the main road from Albert to Pozieres. 

This memorial relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 - when William fell - when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on the 8th of August 1918.

The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave. 

The memorial encloses Poziers British Cemetery, which holds 2,758 Commonwealth servicemen buried or commemorated, 1,380 of whom are unidentified.  

Wife Sarah Ivy received his British War and Victory medals Born March Qtr 1885 in district of Potterspury, Northamptonshire to parents George and Mary Elizabeth Smith of Yardley Gobion, Northamptonshire.

Brother Frederick Charles Smith was K.I.A 31st July 1917 in France.