BORN HULL 1894. ORIGINAL HULL PAL. SON OF ROBERT & MARGARET A SMITH, OF FINSBURY STREET, HULL (1901 CENSUS) & STONE CREEK, SUNK ISLAND, HULL. EMPLOYED BY MESSRS., W HARLAND & CO, DRAPERS, CHARIOT STREET, HULL. SERVED FOR 18 MONTHS AT THE FRONT WITH THE 10TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED AT OPPY WOOD, ON 03/05/1917, AGED 23. HIS NAME IS LISTED ON CLIFTON STREET SCHOOL MEMORIAL. REPORTED MISSING IN THE HULL DAILY NEWS, 07/06/1917.
L/CPL RICHARD HENRY SMITH 10/1231. Born 1894, the son of Robert Smith of Stone Creek, Sunk Island, Hull. Richard was a Draper before the war but signed up in the first rush of volunteers to the fledgling battalion in September 1914. He served with the original Pals in Egypt and on the Somme before being killed in action on May 3rd 1917. His body was never recovered and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. He was 23 years old. Private Weasenham described how his company had walked into a hail of machine gun bullets, yet could see no sign of the enemy through the smoke and mist. He would later describe himself as the luckiest man on earth: I was hit in the arm and leg, as I lay there I could feel my pals falling on top of me, it was this that saved my life. Even in death his mates had his back.
The attack on Oppy Wood, part of the Battle of Arras, was a significant battle for the East Yorkshire Regiment and particularly for the city of Hull. All four Hull Pals battalions were involved on 3 May and all suffered heavy casualties, with 40% of those present killed or injured. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison, a local teacher and rugby player with Hull FC, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in rushing a machine gun position to protect his platoon. His body was never found.The village of Oppy in France had been in German hands since October 1914 and was part of a formidable defensive system including trenches, dug-outs and thick barbed wire defences. During the Battle of Arras, which began in April 1917, the British tried to take Oppy. The first attack was a failure. A second attack was partially successful. The third attack on 3 May, known officially as the Third Battle of the Scarpe, was again unsuccessful with significant loss of life. The troops were ordered to attack at 3.45am, rather than at dawn, and the defending Germans could easily see the line of British soldiers clearly lit by the full moon. The British continued to attack Oppy and were finally successful the following year. The City of Hull Memorial at Oppy was unveiled in 1927 and commemorates the men of the Hull Pals who were killed on 3 and 4 May 1917.
