World War I Commemorative Website

War Memorial Hall  c1929

Memorial Hall circa 1929
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

John Inglis SMITH

SMITH

John Smith was born on 16 May 1895 in Waverley, New South Wales. His parents were John Inglis and Florence Annie (née Cheesmond) Smith. He attended Scotch in 1910. He was in Cadets.

John was a draper when he enlisted on 15 March 1915 at Townsville, Queensland. He served in the 15th Battalion with the rank of Corporal. His Regimental Number was 2204.

John died on 8 August 1915 at Gallipoli. He was 20 years of age.

Service record

John (or Jack) Smith apparently went as a militiaman to join the Thursday Island garrison on 8 August 1914. On 14 August he enlisted for service outside Australia and then two days later went aboard a troopship headed for operations in German New Guinea. On 6 September he enlisted in the Australian Naval and Military Emergency Forces (A.N.& M.E.F.) but did not take part in the capture of German New Guinea as the ship returned to Townsville on 18 September, ‘on account of the trouble caused by the firemen on troopship.’ (From his service record). He was discharged from the force on 18 September 1914. He was still clearly eager for action.

His parents each gave permission for him to enlist at 19 in March 1915 (see documents below). His youth is very apparent in his photograph. He embarked from Brisbane on 12 June 1915. On joining his battalion as a reinforcement on 2 August he reverted to the rank of Private – a standard practice. He was killed on 8 August, during the 15th Battalion’s doomed attempt to capture Hill 971. The battalion was part of Brigadier John Monash’s 4th Brigade. Smith was not posted missing, but there is a Red Cross Missing file on him, in which a mate, Private Kemp, claimed to have seen him lying dead with a bullet wound to the head during a charge (see below) near Hay Valley.

His obituary in the 1916 The Scotch Collegian quotes a friend from his unit who said: ‘Jack was very brave. Judging from where we found his body I should say he got right in among the Turks. I have avenged his death many times over.’ In Smith’s Roll of Honour Circular, John’s father wrote that his son was ‘killed while charging in the formost (sic) front to take crest of Serra (sic - Sari) Bair, Gallipoli’ (see below). John’s service file also contains touching letters from his father (also John Inglis Smith) asking for more details of John’s death and personal effects (see below). Although his father had heard of his son being buried, and although this is also referred to in one of the Red Cross files, Smith has no known grave.

He is commemorated at Lone Pine Memorial.

Photographs and Documents:

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Letter

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Permission to enlist

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From Red Cross Wounded and Missing file

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From Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour Circular

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Request for further information on John Smith’s death

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Request for personal effects

Sources:

  1. Australian War Memorial – Roll of Honour and Red Cross Wounded and Missing file.
  2. Mishura Scotch Database
  3. National Archives of Australia – B2455, SMITH JI
  4. Scotch Collegian 1916
  5. The AIF Project - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=280529

Page last updated: 11 November 2015