Keith Lawrence SMITH

Keith Lawrence SMITH Update Details

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SMITH, Keith Lawrence

Service Number:	4601
Enlisted:	19 October 1915
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	52nd Infantry Battalion
Born:	Huonville, Tasmania, Australia, January 1896
Home Town:	Colebrook, Southern Midlands, Tasmania
Schooling:	Southbridge State School, Tasmania, Australia
Occupation:	Farmer
Died:	Died of Wounds, Pozieres, France, 17 August 1916
Cemetery:	Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais - Hauts-de-France Plot I, Row P, Grave No. 17A
Memorials:	Huonville School Pictorial HR

World War 1 Service

19 Oct 1915:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4601, 12th Infantry Battalion
8 Feb 1916:	Involvement Private, 4601, 12th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Warilda embarkation_ship_number: A69 public_note: ''
8 Feb 1916:	Embarked Private, 4601, 12th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Warilda, Melbourne
19 Apr 1916:	Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 52nd Infantry Battalion

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Biography contributed by Evan Evans

Son of William and Letitia SMITH, Bellerive, Tasmania

Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks

Keith Lawrence Smith was one of four sons and three daughters of William Ernest and Letitia Smith, of Huonville, Tasmania. All the boys enlisted and served overseas during WW1, two of them lost their lives, and one was decorated for bravery.

Keith was severely wounded in the face by shrapnel at Pozieres on 7 August 1916. He was transferred all the way to Boulogne, France but his wounds were very serious and he also contracted scarlet fever. He died of his wounds in the 13th Stationery Hospital almost ten days later.

His older brother, 952 Cpl. Claud Huon Smith 26th Battalion AIF, was killed in action in Belgium, 20 September 1917, aged 24. Another two brothers: 4584 Corporal Frank Ernest Smith and 4585 Pte Ivan Lance Smith MM, both returned to Australia during early 1919.

On the death of the father in 1927, William Ernest Smith, who had owned a large orchard in Huonville and lived in the area for most of his life before he died at 68, the local newspaper reported “He reared a family of four sons and three daughters. All four of the sons took part in the war, two of them being killed. The loss of his two sons and the anxiety for the safe return of the others greatly impaired Mr. Smith's health.”

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