Robert Alfred SMITH

SMITH, Robert Alfred

Service Number: 3130
Enlisted: Not yet discovered
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 44th Infantry Battalion
Born: Acle, Norfolk, England, United Kingdom, date not yet discovered
Home Town: Collie, Collie, Western Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Guard on the Western Australian Railway.
Died: Killed in Action, Belgium, 4 October 1917, age not yet discovered
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Panel 7 - 17 - 23 - 25 - 27 - 29 – 31. , Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Fremantle 849 Memorial, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient)
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World War 1 Service

29 Jan 1917: Involvement Private, 3130, 44th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Miltiades embarkation_ship_number: A28 public_note: ''
29 Jan 1917: Embarked Private, 3130, 44th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Miltiades, Fremantle

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Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon

He was 29 when he emigrated to Australia. He was 36/37 when killed. He was the son of and Caroline Smith and the late John Smith, stepson of James Willgress, and the husband of Alice Blanche Sutherland (formerly Smith) of 225, George St., Launceston, Tasmania.

He is remembered on the family grave in the churchyard of St Margaret, Church Road, Upton ,South Walsham & Upton, Norfolk, NR13 6AN, along with Lance Corporal William Willgress, aged 21, Service Number 18187 of the 7th Bn. Norfolk Regiment. He was ‘Missing’ presumed killed on 12/10/1916 and having no known grave, is commemorated on the THIEPVAL MEMORIAL at Pier and Face 1 C and 1 D.It is believed they were half brothers, Caroline Smith having married James Willgress in 1893 [Marriage registered in Blofield] because on the 1911 census, a Gertrude Smith is listed as a step-daughter of Caroline and James Willgress.

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