BORN CHELSEA 1894. ONLY SON OF PETER WALKER SMITH, OF HULL. BOARDING WITH HIS FATHER IN 1911, AT 9 DE LA POLE TERRACE, BEAN STREET, HULL. HE WAS A STONEMASON, WORKING FOR MR PANTON, ON ANALBY ROAD, HULL. HE MOVED TO 16 MIDDLETON STREET, SPRING BANK, HULL, AT THE OUTBREAK OF WAR. HE ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. SERVED WITH THE 12TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT, IN EGYPT AND FRANCE. PROMOTED TO CORPORAL. HE WAS KILLED IN ACTION, AT SERRE, ON 13/11/1916, AGED 22. COMMEMORATED ON THE THIEPVAL MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING ON THE SOMME.
HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 23/12/1916, WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH. *
Hull Pals Memorial Post. CORPORAL THOMAS EDWARD SMITH 12/77. Born in Chelsea, London in 1894 Thomas was the only son of Peter Smith. The pair are lodging with other families, first in London at the time of the 1901 Census and then in Hull at 9 De La Pole Terrace, Bean Street by 1911. Thomas enlisted at City Hall for the fledgling 12th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 3rd Hull Pals, in mid-September 1914. Hard to imagine how his father must have felt waving his only child off to war in the banner parade out of the city. A mixture of pride and dread perhaps. Thomas never returned to him- he was killed in action on 13th November 1916 at Serre and his body never recovered. His name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial; he was 22 years old.
