Frank Alexander Smith

Frank Smith volunteered at Finsbury Barracks, London one month after war was declared. He was posted to the 13th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment probably still at its depot in Mill Hill, London. During Smith’s time with it the battalion moved to Hove, Sussex, then Shoreham, Kent and finally Pirbright, Surrey before landing at Boulogne in September 1915. These names feature frequently in Smith’s defaulter’s record. On 24th April 1915 he was absent from the barracks for 24 hours during which time he married Lily Porter in Hove. He received 4 days confinement to barracks as a punishment. At the end of June 1915 he received 10 days Field Punishment no 2, and forfeited his pay for ‘breaking out of camp whilst [already] a defaulter … thereby evading the march to Pirbright and remaining absent till 0800 30/6/15 (34hrs)’.
He arrived in France with the battalion on 1st September 1915 and in the middle of November injured his right foot while with a working party. At the beginning of December 1915 he was evacuated to England and admitted to Wharncliffe War Hospital, Sheffield where he remained for 6 weeks. Between January and September 1916 he remained in England under medical care at the Depot in Shoreham though this did not halt his absenteeism and drunkenness. He seems to have been judged fit in the middle of August and a month later he was posted to the 18th (Service) Battalion (1st Public Works Pioneers) Middlesex Regiment part of the 33rd Division which had been serving in France since November 1915. He joined the battalion in the field at the end of September 1916 and a month later was appointed a Lance Corporal. It is a matter of some surprise that he managed to retain that rank until his death 7 months later. In April 1917 Smith was either wounded or fell ill with disease (it is not clear) and spent much of the month at Rouen. Less than 3 weeks after returning to his battalion he was fatally wounded.