Stanley Herd Smith was the son of John and Elizabeth Smith. He was born on 25th June 1898. He was the second of three children, all born in Donaghmore. The 1901 census records Stanley as age 2. Stanley’s father John Smith was a linen manufacturer and Justice of the Peace. The family lived at Mullaghmore, Donaghmore. Stanley was a pupil at St Andrew's College, 21 St. Stephen's Green Dublin. Second Lieutenant Stanley Herd Smith was serving with the 2nd Battalion of the Tank Corps when he died of wounds on 27th May 1918.
Further Information
Stanley Herd Smith was the son of John and Elizabeth Smith. John Smith and Lizzie Herd were married on 9th August 1893 in the district of Dungannon.
Stanley Herd Smith was born on 25th June 1898. He was the second of three children, all born in Donaghmore, County Tyrone.
Robert Smith and Eliza Brown were Stanley's paternal grandparents. Eliza Brown was the daughter of David Brown of Donaghmore.
Family: John Smith, Eliza Smith, Robert Leslie Smith (born 22nd March 1897), Stanley Herd Smith (born 25th June 1898), Norman King Smith (born 14th October 1899).
The 1901 census records Stanley as age 2. Stanley's father John Smith was a linen manufacturer and Justice of the Peace. The family lived at Mullaghmore, Donaghmore, Tyrone.
By the time of the 1911 census, Stanley was 12 years old. He and his two brothers were pupils at St Andrew's College, 21 St. Stephen's Green Dublin.
Stanley was also educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen.
Stanley Smith was a well known rugby football player and represented Ulster against Leinster in 1916.
1917
Leslie Smith (on the left) was Stanley's elder brother. At the time of this photo, taken (on May 1st 1917 at Ardgivna), both were Cadets.
Stanley Smith was promoted to Second Lieutenant at the end of October 1917.
Stanley sent a Battalion Tank Corps Christmas card he sent to his cousins in 1917. The Tank Corps motto was “The Tank Corps expects every tank will do its damnedest”.
A Mark IV World War One tank, introduced in 1917.
1918
Second Lieutenant Stanley Herd Smith arrived in France with the Tank Crops on 13th March 1918.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 22nd April 1918: 2nd Lieut Robert Leslie Smith (brother of Stanley Smith)
Second Lieutenant Robert Leslie Smith, Royal Irish Fusiliers, missing since 2nd March, is now known to be a prisoner of war. The officer is the eldest son of the late Mr John Smith, J.P., Ardgivna, Donaghmore, County Tyrone, and was educated in St Andrews College, Dublin, and afterwards in Switzerland. He was serving his apprenticeship in the Parkside Weaving Factory, Portadown, when the war broke out, but promptly volunteered, He had served thirteen months abroad with the Army Service Corps (A.S.C.) when he was recommended for a commission, and was gazetted in August last.
Second Lieutenant Stanley Herd Smith was serving with the 2nd Battalion of the Tank Corps when he died on 27th May 1918 from wounds to the neck and leg sustained on the previous day by a shell bursting near him while guiding his tank back from the forward area. He was 20 years old.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 11th June 1918:
Second Lieutenant Stanley H Smith, Tank Corps, second son of the late Mr John Smith, J.P., Ardgivna, Dungannon, died on 27th May 1918 from wounds to the neck and leg sustained on the previous day by a shell bursting near him while guiding his tank back from the forward area. The deceased was educated at St Andrews College, Dublin and Portora Royal School, Enniskillen. He received his commission in the Tank Corps in December 1917, and went overseas last February. He was a well-known Rugby football player and represented Ulster against Leinster in 1916. His elder brother, Second Lieutenant Robert Leslie Smith, Royal Irish Fusiliers, is a prisoner of war in Germany since 27th March last.
From the Tyrone Courier and Dungannon News dated Thursday 13 June 1918:
The relatives of Second Lieutenant Stanley H Smith, Tank Corps, second son of the late Mr J Smith, J.P., Ardgivna, Dungannon, have received intimation that he died on 27th May 1918 from wounds to the neck and leg sustained on the previous day by a shell bursting near him while guiding his tank back from the forward area. The deceased officer was educated at St Andrews College, Dublin and Portora Royal School, Enniskillen. He received his commission in the Tank Corps in December 1917 and went abroad last February. He was a well known Rugby football player and represented Ulster against Leinster in 1916. His elder brother, Robert Leslie Smith, Royal Irish Fusiliers, is a prisoner of war in Germany since 27th March last.
Stanley Smith's brother, Leslie Smith, enlisted in the Army Service Corps in 1915 and was initially a dispatch rider and car driver before joining the Field Ambulance Unit. He became a Second Lieutenant in the Princess Victoria's (Royal Irish Fusiliers) in June 1917 but was wounded and captured in Erches in 1918. He was repatriated in December of that year and discharged from the Army in March 1919.
Memorials
Second Lieutenant Stanley Herd Smith is buried in Frechencourt Communal Cemetery which lies east of Amiens in France.
Second Lieutenant Stanley Smith is commemorated locally on Dungannon War Memorial.
Stanley Herd Smith is commemorated on St. Andrew's College War Memorial which is now located to Booterstown, Dublin.
The CWGC record Second Lieutenant Stanley Herd Smith as the son of John and Elizabeth Smith, of Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone.
Special thanks to Janet Antrobus for sharing her research.
