Born: 1897, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Died: 9 January 1918
Buried: Joncourt Military Cemetery
Address: 10 Staveley Road, Shipley
Parents: Harold & Jane
Spouse: Margaret
Siblings: Madelaine
Occupation: Woolsorter, W C Gaunt
Organisations/clubs:
Military
Rank: Sec Lieut
Medals/awards:
Rolls of Honour: Saltaire Grammar School
Children:
Regiment: Royal Flying Corps
Walter Sydney Smith
Walter Sydney Smith was born in
Cleveland, Ohio, USA in 1897, the
son of Leeds-born Mechanical
Engineer Harold and his wife Jane.
By the time of the 1901 census the
family were back in England, living
at 26 Moorlands Villas, Ivy Road,
Shipley.
By 1911 they had moved to 10
Staveley Road and Walter, now an
apprentice woolsorter, had been
joined by a five-year-old sister,
Madelaine.
The Commonwealth War Graves
Commission reference to Walter’s
death has his parents living in
Loughton in Essex while he and his
new wife, Margaret, were living in
the Staveley Road house.
On 8 March 1918, the Shipley
Times & Express published this
piece:
Second-Lieutenant W S Smith,
West Yorkshire Regt, attached to
the Royal Flying Corps, who was
posted as missing some time ago is
now officially reported to have
been killed on 9th January having
been shot down while taking
photographs.
After serving two years in the
R.A.M.C., he obtained a
commission. He spent six months
in the line before joining the R.F.C.
He was an old boy of Salt Schools
and before joining the army was
with the firm of Mr W C Gaunt,
wool merchant of Bradford.
He was married last year and leaves
a wife.
