| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Lance-Corporal Fred Smith was killed in action on 15 Jun 1916, aged 27, near Amara in Turkish-occupied Mesopotamia, now modern day Iraq. He is buried in the Amara War Cemetery, Iraq. He was part of a largely Indian Army force in the region attempting to push north back up the Tigris River towards Baghdad.
Fred enlisted in Beverley early in the war and joined the 8th Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders. He arrived in France in Jul 1915, he was wounded at the Battle of Loos in the autumn of 1915 and returned to the UK to convalesce, he was in Beverley in Jan 1916 before heading out to the Persian Gulf with the 1st Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders. He received the 1914-15 Star and the War and Victory Medals and is remembered on the Hengate War Memorial, Beverley and on the East Riding Memorial in Beverley Minster. He had served as a special constable so is also remembered on the East Riding Constabulary's Roll of Honour in St Mary's Church, Beverley.
Fred was born in 1888 in Woodmansey, the son of Tom and Elizabeth Smith, Tom was a market gardener. In 1911 Fred was working as an engine driver on a threshing machine. The family moved to Queensgate, Beverley when Tom became caretaker at the newly-built Beverley Grammar School. Tom died in a road traffic accident outside the school in Oct 1912, his mother, Elizabeth took over the role as caretaker. Fred had three sisters and seven brothers. Fred was unmarried and was still living with his parents when he enlisted.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |