| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Rudolph Smith, known to his fellow soldiers as 'Jack', was born in 1892 in Cherry Burton and christened in St Michael and All Angels Church on 1 Jan 1893. He was the youngest of five children born to Richard Smith and his wife Mary Adelaide (nee Smith).
As a young man with experience of working with horses, Rudolph enlisted in the Cavalry. He joined the 18th (Queen Mary's Own) Royal Hussars. In Aug 1914 the Regiment left Tidworth for Southampton where they embarked for France at midday on 15 Aug 1914, and arrived at Boulogne in the early hours of the 16th. On 16 Sep 1914 the Cavalry Division was renamed as 1st Cavalry Division. The 18th Hussars took part in the Battle of Mons and the subsequent retreat and then in the battles of the Marne and the Aisne. In October the Regiment was moved north as the allies attempted to counter the German drive to the coast. On 28 Oct Rudolph Smith was wounded during an attack on Neuve Chapelle. The Regiment spent much of the next two and a half years or so as dismounted infantry in trench-holding duties on various parts of the front. In Jun 1917 the Regiment formed part of the 2nd Pioneer Battalion and worked on the construction of new trenches near Lens.
Whilst digging trenches in no-man's-land near the Lievin-Lens Road on the night of 20/21 Jun 1917, they were subjected to a barrage of trench mortars, high explosive shells and machine gun fire. Rudolph was killed, along with five others, by a trench mortar. They are buried in adjoining graves at Bully-Grenay Communal Cemetery Extension, Pas-de-Calais.
His mother received a letter of sympathy from his Company Commander, 2nd Lt Richard Foster Thursa, saying Rudolph's loss was felt very acutely by the troop. She received another heartfelt letter from Fred Glover ('your son's chum') to tell her Rudolph was 'a very brave lad' and expressing sympathy 'from the bottom of my heart'. Both letters were published in the Beverley Guardian.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |