Main CPGW Record
Surname: SMITH
Forename(s): Gordon
Place of Birth: Sutton-in-Craven, Yorkshire
Service No: 36733
Rank: Private
Regiment / Corps / Service: Leicestershire Regiment
Battalion / Unit: 8th (Service) Battalion
Division: 21st Division
Age: 21
Date of Death: 1917-05-03
Awards: ---
CWGC Grave / Memorial Reference: Bay 5.
CWGC Cemetery: ---
CWGC Memorial: ARRAS MEMORIAL
Non-CWGC Burial: ---
Local War Memorial: SUTTON-IN-CRAVEN, YORKSHIRE
Additional Information:
Gordon Smith was the son of William and Elizabeth Smith, née Firth. William was born at Keighley and Elizabeth at Wakefield, Yorkshire.
1901 Sutton-in-Craven, Yorkshire Census: 5, Raspberry Place - Gordon Smith, aged 5 years, born Kildwick, Yorkshire, son of William and Elizabeth Smith.
1911 Sutton-in-Craven, Yorkshire Census: Holly Bank, Bent Lane - Gordon Smith, aged 15 years, born Kildwick, Yorkshire, son of William and [stepson of] Mary Alice Smith.
The British Army Service Record for Gordon Smith exists but may be incomplete.
Data Source: Craven’s Part in the Great War - original CPGW book entry
View Entry in CPGW BookEntry in West Yorkshire Pioneer Illustrated War Record:
SMITH, Gordon, [Sutton], aged 22, Leicestershire Regiment, reported missing May 3, 1917, now presumed killed.
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Private Gordon SMITH
Regiment / Corps / Service Badge: Leicestershire Regiment
Divisional Sign / Service Insignia: 21st Division
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Private Gordon Smith
Courtesy of ‘The Men of Worth Project’ website: https://www.menofworth.org.uk
View Craven Herald Articles
View Craven Herald Articles
08 June 1917
SUTTON-IN-CRAVEN – ANOTHER LOCAL SOLDIER MISSING: PRIVATE GORDON SMITH
Last Friday Mr. and Mrs. William Smith, of North View, Sutton-in-Craven, received an official intimation from the War Office, stating that their son, Private Gordon Smith, of the Leicester Regiment, had been missing from his battalion since an engagement ‘somewhere in France’ on the 3rd of May, and also stating that if any further information came to light they would immediately inform the parents.
Pte. Smith, who was 21 years of age, was engaged in the textile designing department at Messrs. T. and M. Bairstow’s Sutton Mills up to the outbreak of war, when he left to take up a position in the office of his uncle, a well-known timber merchant at Nelson. He worked for his uncle until September of that year, when he joined the Lancashire Fusiliers. He trained with his regiment for some little time, and was being specially trained, along with about six others, to take up posts as drill instructors, but the party was drafted into the Leicester Regiment in order to make it up to strength before going out to France, and Pte. Smith went out to France with the Leicesters about the beginning of last December. He was very well known in Sutton, and was a remarkably sharp lad. He was educated at the Keighley Trade and Grammar School, and great hopes were entertained of him. He was very closely connected with the Sutton Baptist Sunday School, being a teacher in the junior department for some time.
View West Yorkshire Pioneer Articles
View West Yorkshire Pioneer Articles
08 June 1917
SUTTON
A MISSING SOLDIER – Mr and Mrs Wm. Smith, of Crag View, have received official information that their son, Pte. Gordon Smith, of the Leicester Regiment, has been missing since May 3rd. Pte. Smith, who recently attained his 21st birthday, was the third son of Mr. Smith. As a scholar at St. Thomas’s Church day school he won a county minor scholarship and spent three years at the Keighley Trade and Grammar School. At the outbreak of the war he was employed by his uncle, Mr. Andrew Broadhead, timber merchant, of Nelson, as clerk. He attested under the, Derby Scheme and joined the forces in July, 1916, going across to France in December. Pte. Gordon Smith is very well known and respected in the village. He was a member of the Baptist Church. and on Sunday afternoon last at the monthly communion service the pastor, Rev. F. Ward Pollard, made sympathetic reference to the missing young man, and expressed in the name of the members of the church deep sympathy with the parents and family in their great anxiety.
28 March 1918
SMITH – Reported missing on May 3rd, now believed killed, Pte. Gordon Smith, of the Leicester Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Smith, of Crag View, Sutton, aged 22.
28 March 1918
CRAVEN AND THE WAR
Death of Private Gordon Smith
Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Smith, of Crag View, Sutton, have received official intimation that their youngest son, Pte. Gordon Smith, of the Leicester Regiment, who was reported missing on the 3rd of May last, and about whom exhausted inquiries have been made, is now regarded as having been killed on May 3rd or has died since. The deceased, who was in his 23rd year, joined up in July, 1915, becoming attached to the East Lancashire Regiment, but was transferred to the Leicester Regiment. He went out to France in December, 1916. At the time of his enlistment he was employed with his uncle, Mr. Andrew Broadhead, timber merchant, Nelson. As a boy he went to the Sutton Church School, and while there he won a scholarship tenable for three years at the Keighley Trade and Grammar School. Prior to leaving the district he was a worker in connection with the Sutton Baptist Sunday School, in the junior department. He was also a member of the church. He was a young man, very highly respected by all who knew him. His loss is greatly deplored and much sympathy is felt with his parents, who have their two remaining sons in the army.
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