Capt Arthur de Bells Adam (MC)
1885 - 1916

CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916

Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916

Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916

Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918

Pte 303044 Sydney Walter Smith

Age: 24
From: Liscard, Cheshire
Regiment: 2 Lancs Fusiliers
Died on Thursday 3rd May 1917
Commemorated at: Arras Memorial
Panel Ref: Bay 5

Sydney Walter Smith was born in Liscard Cheshire in the summer of 1892 the youngest son of John Smith and his wife Sarah Ann Martha (nee Wray). He is listed as Walter on the Censuses. His father was from Suffolk and his mother from Liverpool. They married in Liverpool in 1872 and had eight children. All of Walter’s siblings were born in Liverpool: Howard John 1873 but died at age 12, Amy Adelaide 1874, George Henry 1876, Cecil Beresford 1877, Blanche Charlotte 1881, Sarah Winifred 1883, and Mabel 1885. The family then moved across the Mersey, where Walter was born.

The 1901 Census shows the family are living at 6 Mill Lane, Liscard, with six children and a boarder. His father, 56, and Cecil, 23, are draper’s assistants, his mother is 46, Amy, 27, and Mabel, 15, are school teachers, Blanche is 20, Winifred 18, is a dressmaker, and Walter is 8.

His brother Cecil died in 1910, at the age of 33.

The 1911 Census finds the family at 33 Parkfield Drive, Liscard. His father is 66, a draper’s buyer, his mother is 56. Six of their eight children are still living, and four are at home; Blanche is 30, helping at home, Winifred is 28, working on her own account from home, Mabel is 25, a school teacher for the council. Walter is 18, working as an apprentice cotton broker.

He enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool joining the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 16943.

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th 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.

Walter shipped to France with his battalion from Folkestone, disembarking at Boulogne on 07th November 1915.

At some point Sydney Walter transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. He was serving with them when he was killed in action on 03rd May 1917.

His body was not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as his name is commemorated at Bay 5 on the Arras Memorial in France.

The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).

His parents placed a notice in the Liverpool Echo on 30th May 1917:

“May 3rd, killed in action, aged 24 years, Sydney Walter, the beloved son of John and Sarah A. M. Smith, 12 Promenade, Egremont.”

Walter earned his three medals, but sadly his Victory Medal and British War Medal were returned, reason unknown.

His Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £12 went to his father John.

The pension card in the name of his mother Sarah Ann Smith, 12 Promenade, Egremont, giving regimental number 282672, 1/7th Lancashire Fusiliers, shows that she was awarded a pension of 5/- a week from December 1917.

His medal card shows his Lancashire Fusiliers reg. no. as 303044, and Soldiers’ Effects gives both numbers.

CWGC records hold 2nd Bn Lancashire Fusiliers, reg. no. 3030044.

His father died in 1927, aged 82, and his mother in 1934, aged 80.

Walter is commemorated on the Liverpool Cotton Association Memorial now situated at Walker House, Exchange Flags, Liverpool.

And is also remembered on his parents’ gravestone in Rake Lane Cemetery, Wallasey:

ALSO SYDNEY WALTER SMITH

DEARLY LOVED SON OF THE ABOVE

KILLED IN ACTION IN FRANCE

3RD MAY 1917, AGED 24 YEARS

“AT REST”

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

Killed On This Day.

(110 Years this day)
Wednesday 3rd May 1916.
L/Cpl 15847 Henry Beacham
24 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 3rd May 1917.
Pte 42625 John Christopher McCormack
22 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 3rd May 1917.
2nd Lieut Joseph Morton Bibby
28 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 3rd May 1917.
L/Cpl Frank Birchall
23 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 3rd May 1917.
Pte 16654 James Arthur Fullerton
23 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 3rd May 1917.
Pte 303044 Sydney Walter Smith
24 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 3rd May 1917.
Pte 22002 Albert Edward Adams
23 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 3rd May 1917.
Cpl 22751 John Kirby
23 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 3rd May 1917.
Pte 24487 Charles Emmanuel Morris
20 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 3rd May 1917.
Serjeant Harry Philip Winterbottom
40 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 3rd May 1917.
Pte 22302 Francis Albert (Bertie) Adams
27 years old

(109 Years this day)
Thursday 3rd May 1917.
Pte 48377 Richard Rankin

A total of 17 Pals were killed on this day. View All