PRIVATE 38235 DAVID SMITH, 17th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (2nd LEEDS PALS).


PRIVATE 38235 DAVID SMITH, 17th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (2nd LEEDS PALS). KILLED IN ACTION 25th JUNE 1917 AGED 37


Born in Crosshills in 1880 David Smith came to live in Ilkley in about 1905 and took a house at 12 Middleton Road. A master plasterer and concreter by trade he appears to have worked mainly for Ilkley Urban District Council and the Midland Railway Company. In 1913 David married Kate Alice Bell in Skipton and two years later in 1915 a son was born.

 
In 1916 David would have been conscripted into the army and in September of that year joined the 17th West Yorkshire Regiment. Known as the 2nd Leeds Pals battalion they were originally raised in the city in December 1914. They were also a 'bantam' battalion that is is open to men who were below the normal regulation height of 5'3" but who otherwise met the British Army's medical criteria. They had been heavily involved during the Somme Campaign and suffered severe casualties. David may or may not have been under regulation height for as the war progressed, taller men were often sent as reinforcements. In January of 1917 he was posted to France and arrived with his new unit of the 21st of the month, part of a draft of 112 men.
 
The 17th West Yorks managed to avoid the worst of the fighting at Arras and by June were positioned in a relatively quiet sector of the front just north of St Quintin. On evening of the 25th June the battalion was manning the front line near to the village of Villers Guislain but under the cover of darkness was sending out digging parties to construct new trenches. As David’s party walked along a small valley they were hit by 3 shells fired by German artillery and he received a shrapnel wound to the head. Not killed outright, there was, however, little hope for him and David died as he was taken back to the medical post.
 
Today Private David Smith lies in the tiny Villers Guislain Communal Cemetery and is remembered on the war memorials in Crosshills and in Ilkley.


A friend wrote this letter to his wife.

Dear Mrs Smith,

 How sorry indeed I am to have to write these few lines to you, but as a soldier and one of his pals, I feel it my duty to write to you. It was about 10 o'clock on the night of the 25th June and we were going into the front line to work etc. when I and your dear husband and another 2 or 3 men brought up the rear of the party and going through a small valley when the Germans dropped three shells amongst us. The shock of the second shell knocked me down and a piece of steel hit David on the head and deeply sorry to tell you that he died on the way to the hospital. Now David joined up at the same time as I and we have been in the same platoon together ever since and I can tell you he was a good worker and a generous sort of chap. He was well liked by all who knew him and I am sorry to have to lose such such a brave and reliable comrade. I suppose he will get a soldiers funeral and his grave will be marked by a small cross. I hope you will get to know later where it will be, but he died for his country like a real soldier.

I remain, yours respectfully,

Private E Simpson.




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