Cecil Smeathman was the youngest son of Lovel and Frances Ann Smeathman, of South Hill, Hemel Hempstead. He was born in Hemel on Monday, 20th May 1889 and baptised in St Mary’s Church on Sunday, 11th August of the same year. He had two older brothers, Lovel Francis and Julian Missenden. All three brothers fought in the Great War which only the eldest son Lovel Francis survived.

Cecil and his brother Julian tragically fell on the same day, Saturday, 24th October 1914, in different parts of France and Flanders. Remarkably, during the conflict 322 pairs of brothers died on the same day.

The Smeathman family had been prominent citizens in Hemel Hempstead for many years before the outbreak of war and participated widely in aspects of commercial, political and social life. Cecil’s father Lovel, a solicitor and JP, would be made the first Freeman of the Borough in 1929 as gratitude for his long public service to the town. He had also been Town Clerk and sat on numerous committees including the Hemel Hempstead Board of Guardians. Boards of Guardians ran the Poor Law system in England, Wales and Ireland from 1835 to 1930 and were responsible for administering workhouses within a poor law union, which was a group of parishes. The guardians were elected by the owners and occupiers of land in the parish who had to pay the poor rate.

At age eleven in 1901, Cecil was a boarder at Lockers Park School prior to entering Rugby School in 1903 when he was fourteen. During his time at Rugby he won his ‘football cap’ in 1907, an award originating at the school and now in common use for most international sports. Cecil left Rugby in 1908 and was matriculated at University College, Oxford. At around this time Cecil joined the Leicestershire Regiment as 2nd Lieutenant, with antedate as a university candidate of September 1911 when he would graduate. He was awarded his B.A. degree in 1911 and this was conferred at a ceremony on 14th December 1912. At Oxford he had been a member of the University OTC, or "The Bugshooters" as it was fondly known, which was to lose almost 2000 men in the Great War.

He joined his regiment on 19th September 1911 and was promoted Lieutenant on 15th May 1913. The 1st Bn. Leicestershire Regiment were in Fermoy, Ireland at the outbreak of war but, by 9th September 1914 it had embarked for France as part of 16th Infantry Brigade, 6th Division. The battalion landed at Saint-Nazaire on 10th September 1914. Cecil is listed in the 1st Bn. Leicestershire’s war diaries in the "Roll of Officers" embarking for France.

The Battalion suffered its first casualties on 20th September 1914 at La Fosse Marguél, after relieving the Worcester and the Royal Irish Regiments, and the list states "Killed 2 Privates, wounded 1 Officer (Died) and 5 Privates".

By 21st October 1914 the battalion was fighting east of Boulogne and it was here in the trenches at Rue de Bois that Cecil was mortally wounded. The war diaries record "field trenches heavily shelled by shrapnel and heavy howitzer all day" and that Lieutenant Smeathman was wounded. Cecil was moved to the Base Hospital at Bailleul where he sadly succumbed to his wounds three says later on Saturday, 24th October 1914.

His Adjutant wrote: "He was an Officer whose loss is very much felt, not only professionally, for he was of exceptional capability, but also as a very great personal friend of us all." A brother Officer said: "He was one of the most popular Officers here, and is universally regretted by all of us who survived those four terrible days. His Platoon was terribly upset about him. I know they would have followed him anywhere."

The Hemel Gazette carried numerous reports of the deaths of Cecil and his brother Julian and particularly how the shocking news was received by their parents.

Following the death of Julian and his brother a memorial service was held in November at St Mary’s Church, Hemel Hempstead and later the dedication of a stained-glass window in the church, to further commemorate the sacrifice made by the two men.

Cecil is Remembered with Honour in Bailleul Communal Cemetery, Nord, France where he is interred in Plot: C 7.

He was 25 years old when he fell.

Cecil was eligible for the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.