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Arthur Frank Smith

Forename: Arthur Frank

Surname: Smith

Rank: Corporal

Regiment: Royal Irish Rifles

Institution: St Paul’s Practising School


Arthur Frank Smith was born on 18 January 1896 to Arthur and Abigail Smith. They lived at 28 Courtenay Street while Arthur attended the Practising School from 1902 to 1908. He left to attend Cheltenham Grammar School from 1908 to 1915 and after that was awarded a place at Kings College Cambridge.

Arthur initially enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment before being transferred to the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles where he served as a Corporal. He died on 16 August 1917 during the first day of the attack at Langemarck during awful weather conditions, a waterlogged battlefield and relentless machine gun fire. Arthur has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot memorial.