Pte 203700 Alfred Peter Smith

There are no births in England or Wales for an Alfred Peter Smith. 

 

This soldier, Alfred Smith, was born on Christmas Day 1897, the second son of Francis Frederick Smith and Mary Ellen (née Dunn).  

 

His father served in the Royal Artillery from 1887 to 1899, and returned to England in January 1895 after 5 years in Malta.

 

His mother was raised by her maternal grandmother, Ellen Cronan (sometimes written Cronin), and used this surname on some records.  She had a son, Stephen Cronan, born on 24th December 1893, who was raised by family members.

 

Alfred had an older brother Francis Frederick, born on 16th September 1896, before his parents married on 12th April 1897 in St. Mary’s, Stockport. 

 

Alfred was baptised in St. Joseph’s R.C. Church, Stockport, on 22nd January 1898 (mother née Cronin). 

 

A third son, Frederick, was born on 23rd December 1900.

 

The 1901 Census taken on 31st March 1901, shows 3 year old Alfred living with his parents and two brothers at Pear Court, 4 Wellington Road South, Stockport. His father Francis is 31 years of age and born in Halifax, whilst his mother is 25 years of age and was born in Stockport. His elder brother, Francis, aged 4 and his newborn younger brother Frederick.  

No records for his parents have been found after 1901, on censuses, electoral rolls, passenger lists, or in death records. 

In 1911 Frank and Alfred Smith are inmates at Buckley Hall Orphanage/School for Roman Catholic Boys in Rochdale, Lancashire. The orphanage also took children boarded out by the Poor Law authorities. Frank Smith, 14, born Stockport, tailor’s apprentice; Alfred Smith, age 12, born Stockport, scholar.  The youngest brother Frederick is not found in the orphanage, although there are boys as young as 7 in the institution. 

The boys received education and vocational training. The trades taught included tailoring, plumbing, printing, joinery, and boot and shoe repair. The latter department also developed a manufacturing section which produced boots and shoes for the boys and members of the staff. Master craftsmen were employed in each of these disciplines in order to ensure that the boys received expert tuition. (ChildrensHomes.org.U.K.)

 

Perhaps Alfred adopted, or was given, the middle name Peter whilst at the orphanage, by an adult mentor, priest or teacher.  Frederick later adopted the middle name Anthony.

 

He evidently remained in Lancashire after leaving the orphanage, enlisting in Manchester, 15 miles south of Buckley Hall. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he served for 19 months, enlisting in about August 1916, when he would have been 18 years old.  Alfred would have seen action at Arras and Passchendale in 1917,

 

He was serving in the 19^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 203700 when he was killed in action on the 30^th March 1918, aged 20, during the German Spring Offensive. Alfred was  originally declared Missing between 22nd-30th March 1918.

 

His name was published in the list of Missing published in the Weekly Casualty List on 4th June 1918.

 

Alfred’s body was found by the Germans and buried in the Faubourg St. Martin Military Cemetery Extension, St. Quentin, Grave No.9, marked with a cross, “Engl. Smith, Marz 18”.  Later, his grave was found and Alfred was identified by his identity disc, regiment L.L.R.C. [sic].  His body was removed and reburied in St. Souplet British Cemetery, where he now rests.

 

St. Souplet village was captured by the American 30th Division on the 10th October 1918. The American troops made a cemetery of 371 American and seven British graves on the South-West side of the village, on the road to Vaux-Andigny. A smaller British cemetery was made alongside. The American graves were removed after the Armistice and the seven British graves were moved into the British cemetery. Further British graves were brought in from the surrounding battlefields and the following smaller burial grounds. There are now nearly 750, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, one-fifth are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 55 soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in other cemeteries, whose graves could not be found. The cemetery covers an area of 2,504 square metres and is enclosed by a stone rubble wall.

 

The CWGC Graves Registration Report gives his date of death as 22nd March 1918, as does the exhumation form.  However, the CWGC certificate and gravestone show date of death as 30th March.

As Graham Maddocks points out in his book The Liverpool Pals, the CWGC records 38 men of the 19^th Bn of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as killed in action on 30^th March 1918 when as the Battalion diary below, shown in bold type, records that the men were actually out of the line and safely on the way to St Valery- sur- Somme.

The composite battalion moved off from ROUVREL at 8.30 am at 50 yards interval between companies, arriving at SALEUX at 3.20 pm where they entrained, detraining at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME the same night. The night was spent at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME.

Apart from those whose bodies were not found and are commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial all but two have burial sites at Savy British Cemetery, which itself is within a couple of miles of Roupy and contains most of the identified men killed on 22^nd March 1918. Therefore, it would appear that the date of death for these men shown as 30^th March 1918 is purely an arbitrary one and that they were in fact killed on 22^nd March.

His brother Frank Smith received his Army effects and a War Gratuity of £8-10s.  A pension card has not been found, suggesting that before enlisting Alfred lived independently and had no dependants.

 

His half brother Stephen Cronan served in the 1st Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment as Private 9743 and died of wounds in hospital at Boulogne on 08th November 1914, aged 20.  He now rests in Wimerux Communal Cemetery. 

 

His youngest brother Frederick married, had a family, and died in stockport in 1977, aged 76.  It is not known what became of his older brother Frank.

 

Unfortunately, it has not been possible to definitively identify Alfred on any memorials.

 

 

We currently have no further information on Alfred Peter Smith, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.