Pte 24899 Arthur Smith

• Age: 20
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Guillemont Rd Cem
  Panel Ref: IV.F.5

Arthur Smith was born in the September quarter of 1896 in Liverpool, the son of Joseph Smith and his wife Mary Ann (née Lewis). His parents married in 1894; Arthur was the second of four children. The family was non-conformist.

In 1901 the family is living at New Heys Cottages, Sandfield Park, West Derby.

His father, 32, is a domestic gardener, his mother is 30, Joseph is 6, and Arthur is 4 years old.

The 1911 Census shows the family are still living at New Heys Lodge, Sandfield Park, West Derby, Liverpool.

Arthur's father, Joseph, is aged 42, born 1869 in West Derby, Liverpool, occupation domestic gardener, whilst his mother, Mary Ann, is aged 40, born 1871 in Birkenhead.  They have been married for sixteen years and have four children. The children are all declared on the Census and are listed as; Joseph Franklin aged 16, born 1895 is a boot repairer, Arthur aged 14, is a garden boy, Elsie May aged 8, born 1903 and William Ernest aged 5, born 1906 were all born in West Derby, Liverpool.

He enlisted Liverpool joining the 17^th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 24899. His regimental number as well as the amount of the War Gratuity suggest that he enlisted in about January 1915, when he would have been 18 years old.

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

Arthur arrived in France with his battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on 07th November 1915.

He was killed in action on the 30^th July 1916, aged 20, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive. 

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July. 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.

Arthur was buried close to where he fell and after the war when graves were concentrated his body was removed and reinterred at Guillemont Road Cemetery, France. The CWGC Graves Registration form shows Pte. Smith 25503 or 25505 K.L.R., later amended to Arthur’s regimental no. 

Guillemont was an important point in the German defences at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. It was taken by the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on 30 July but the battalion was obliged to fall back, and it was again entered for a short time by the 55th (West Lancashire) Division on 8 August. On 18 August, the village was reached by the 2nd Division, and on 3 September (in the Battle of Guillemont) it was captured and cleared by the 20th (Light) and part of the 16th (Irish) Divisions. It was lost in March 1918 during the German advance, but retaken on 29 August by the 18th and 38th (Welsh) Divisions.

The cemetery was begun by fighting units (mainly of the Guards Division) and field ambulances after the Battle of Guillemont, and was closed in March 1917, when it contained 121 burials. It was greatly increased after the Armistice when graves (almost all of July-September 1916) were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the village and certain smaller cemeteries, including:-

HARDECOURT FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY. The village of Hardecourt-au-Bois was captured by French troops on the 8th July 1916, and again by the 58th (London) and 12th (Eastern) Divisions on 28 August 1918. Five British Artillerymen were buried by their unit in the French Military Cemetery, in the middle of the village, in September 1916; and in 1918 the 12th Division buried in the same cemetery 14 men of the 9th Royal Fusiliers and two of the 7th Royal Sussex.

Guillemont Road Cemetery now contains 2,263 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 1,523 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to eight casualties known or believed to be buried among them.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

The inscription on his headstone reads:

"THEY THAT BELIEVETH IN ME THOUGH HE WERE DEAD YET SHALL HE LIVE JOHN: X1.25" 

He earned his three medals.

His Army pay and a War Gratuity of £6-10s went to his father.  From the pension card in the name of his mother, dated March 1917, by this time living at 105 Eaton Road, it is not clear whether a pension was awarded.

Liverpool Echo 7th Sept 1916 

SMITH - July 30, killed in action, aged 20 years, Arthur, K.L.R., the dearly-loved son of M. A. and J. Smith, New Heys Cottage, West Derby.  

But call it not death, a few short days o’er, 

Meet him in glory, to part no more.  

What a blessed hope, when Christ shall appear,  

For the restitution of all things here. 

In the Liverpool Echo, on 30th July 1917 under the heading ‘Lost At The Battle of Guillemont’ his family paid tribute to Arthur:

“In sad and affectionate remembrance of our dear son, Private Arthur Smith, aged 20, of the 17th K.L.R. (Pals), killed in action at Guillemont, July 30, 1916. Safe upon the ever-shining shore, Sin, pain, and death, and sorrow, all are o’er. Mr. and Mrs. Smith, 105 Eaton Road (late Sandfield Park).”

Arthur is also commemorated on the West Derby War Memorial, West Derby village, Liverpool.

His elder brother Joseph Franklin who enlisted prior to Arthur, survived the war. 

His father died in 1934 aged 65. 

In 1939 his widowed mother, 70, was living alone at 3 Mercer Place, Deysbrook Lane.  She died in 1947 at the age of 77.  

We currently have no further information on Arthur Smith, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.