SMITH, Josiah Needham
| Service Number: | 3698 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 33rd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Grays, Essex, England, 1877 |
| Home Town: | Balmain, Leichhardt, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 30 March 1918 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" No known grave, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Aug 1917: | Involvement Private, 3698, 53rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Miltiades embarkation_ship_number: A28 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Aug 1917: | Embarked Private, 3698, 53rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Miltiades, Sydney | |
| 30 Mar 1918: | Involvement Private, 3698, 33rd Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3698 awm_unit: 33rd Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1918-03-30 |
Help us honour Josiah Needham Smith's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
He was killed in action aged 40.
He is remembered on the grave of his parents, Josiah Laurie and Eliza Jane Smith at Grays Old Cemetery, Essex. He was born in Grays-birth registration as follows:
Births Sep 1877 SMITH Josiah Needham Orsett 4a 207
He left a widow, Maud Smith of 17 Ann St., Balmain, New South Wales.
Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
He was killed by sniper’s bullet near Hangard Wood.
He is commemorated on the Grays War Memorial which stands at the north end of Grays High Street; the names of the borough’s Great War dead are inscribed on the east and west panels, while the south-facing panel is inscribed with four lines from the poem, "Bivouac of the Dead" written by Danville, Kentucky native, Theodore O'Hara to honour his fellow soldiers from Kentucky who died in the Mexican-American War. The poem increased its popularity after the Civil War, and its verses have been featured on many memorials to fallen soldiers throughout the world,
“On Fame's eternal camping-ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And Glory guards, with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead.”
[The inscription showing his initial as I is incorrect]
Other locally born casualties who fell whilst serving with Australian forces in the Great War who are commemorated on the Grays War Memorial are:
Henry C. Aslett
Frank [Francis] Walter Facer
William Mears
Cecil Charles Mitcham
Bertram Neal
Albert Stephenson
William George King
It has to be assumed that the following locally born Australian casualties didn’t make it to any of the borough’s war memorials, possibly because there were no living relatives still around in the area when the lists were created.
George Seth Clayton
Charles Culley
Jesse Humphrey
John Musgrove
Richard Turnbull
C. Webb
Click images to start slideshow.