Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Edgar SMITH (Service Number 4326) was born on 29th June 1889 at Parramatta. His working career with the NSW Railways began in November 1910 as a casual cleaner (first step in the career path to driver) at Eveleigh Locomotive Depot. In March 1912 he progressed to fireman and it was from this rolethat he joined the Expeditionary Forces on 15th December 1915.

According to one set of Attestation Papers he enlisted at Warwick Farm on 7th September 1915, was given the Service Number 3469 and was allotted to the 11th Reinforcements to the 13th Battalion. According to another set of papers he enlisted at Liverpool on 15th December 1915, was given the service number 4326 and was allotted to the 13th Reinforcements to the 4th Battalion. He gave his father living in Petersham Road, Marrickville as his next of kin. 

He embarked HMAT ‘Port Lincoln’ at Sydney on 14th October 1915 with the 13th Battalion. The ship stopped in Melbourne and he may have failed to re-join it before it left. According to the Australian War Memorial he embarked at Sydney on HMAT ‘Aeneas’ on 20th December 1915. Other military records suggested he embarked ‘Aeneas at Melbourne on 20th December after being AWL in the intervening period.  The December papers have the annotation ‘Re-attested’. This may explain the two enlistments.

He was in Egypt on 14th February 1916 when he was allotted to and proceeded to join the 2nd Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir. Little more than a month later he left Alexandria on ‘Ivernia’ for passage to join the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front in France and passed through Marseilles on 28th March.

He was wounded in action with a gunshot to his shoulder on 23rd July and admitted to the No. 1 Australian General Hospital at Rouen. He was then transported to England on the Hospital Ship ‘St Andrew’ to the 3rd Western General Hospital Newport by 26th July 1916.

It was 11th September before he was fit enough to resume any duties and November before he proceeded overseas to France to re-join his Battalion. In January 1917 he was sick with trench feet and admitted to the Field Ambulance, 45th Casualty Clearing Station, No. 6 General Hospital, the Hospital Ship ‘St David’, the 1st Southern General Hospital and the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital where he remained until 23rd March. He had furlough from 27th April to 12th May 1917. He did not return from Furlough until three days late and for this offence received seven days’ close confinement and the loss of four days’ pay. He was still not fully fit, and it was July 1917 before he returned to France and re-joined the 2nd Battalion on 30th July.

Smith was killed in action in Belgium at Ypres, on 19th September 1917. Cpl J Cassidy (4153) stated:

‘At Polygon Wood on the 19 Sep./17 he was killed in a post next to me by one of our own shells. We were holding the line and the Germans were shelling us. I was 30 yards away and saw him hit. He was taken back by S/Bs for burial but I cannot say where. He was an Engine Fireman, and his home was at Marrickville. He came over with the same reinforcement as myself on the 20th Nov 1915 from Sydney.’

Contemporary reports show that he was buried on the parapet, close to where he fell at Zouave Trench. This location was never recovered after the war and he has no known grave. Edgar Smith is remembered at the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.

 - based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.