Frederick Smith, known as Fred, was the adopted son of Charles and Alice Smith and he was born in 1894, possibly in Barnes, Surrey. Mysteriously on the 1901 Census transcript an adopted child is listed as Edward E Buckingham aged six so born in 1895. It is not clear if this child was in fact Fred, although the ages are close, or whether this child died and Fred was adopted by the time of the next Census in 1911.

Whatever the answer Fred had two adoptive siblings, a sister Evelyn May who was the same age as him and a brother Frank who was four years his junior. On the 1911 Census return, the family were living in Barnes and Fred’s father Charles was employed as a railway signalman. Fred and his sister Evelyn were both working as shop assistants, Fred in a grocers and Evelyn in a draper’s shop.

Fred’s connection with Hemel Hempstead resulted from his father’s career change, when sometime after 1911, Charles became the landlord of the Whip and Collar pub at Two Waters in Boxmoor. The Whip and Collar was built around 1860 and was located close to the Grand Junction [Union] Canal and gained passing trade from the boatmen. It is now an Indian restaurant called K2.

However, the family’s stay in Hemel seems to have been relatively short, as Fred’s father Charles is recorded as landlord of the Bull and Butcher on the CWGC Commemorative Certificate. This indicates a move away from the area sometime after Fred’s death in 1914.

Fred enlisted in Watford in early 1913 and became a regular soldier with 20th Hussars, a regiment attached to the Royal Horse Guards. It was part of the Household Cavalry and Cavalry of the Line Regiment. The 20th Hussars regiment was originally raised in Bengal by the East India Company before transferring to the British Army in 1877. In the Great War it formed part of the 5th Cavalry Brigade in the 2nd Cavalry Division. Based in Colchester the Brigade mobilised and moved to France in August 1914 where it saw action at Mons, Cerizy and the Marne before moving to Flanders when reassigned to 2nd Division.

Fred fought at the 1st Battle of Ypres and it was during the Battle of Gheluvelt between the 29th and 31st October 1914 that he was killed. He died at Zandvoorde on Friday, 30th October when the first big German attack captured the village. He had only been in France for twenty-three days when he was killed.

His death was reported in the Hemel Gazette in February 1915 after it was officially confirmed to his parents.

Fred is Remembered with Honour on the Ypres, (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.

He was only 20 years old when he fell.

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