Notes
Richard Melville Smith was born on 23 September 1917, the elder son of Elizabeth (née Morrisson) and Robert Smith MBE, an electrical engineer. During the early part of his life his family lived in Hong Kong. Richard Smith was educated at Bromsgrove School from 1931 to 1936, where he was awarded his sports colours in July 1935, and served in the School’s Officer Training Corps. He entered Worcester College, Oxford, on 9 October 1936, and achieved 3rd class honours in Jurisprudence in 1939.
Richard Smith joined the army in 1939 as a Sapper in the 225th Field Company Royal Engineers, who embarked for overseas service on 14 January 1940, arriving at Le Havre in France that evening. On 10 May 1940, when the Germans invaded France and the Low Countries, the unit was at La Madeline on the Belgian border. They joined the retreat to the coast a few days later, and were subsequently evacuated from Dunkirk, but Richard Smith was among the missing. Sapper Richard Smith was later determined to have been killed in action between 31 May and 2 June 1940, aged 22.
Richard Smith is commemorated on the Dunkirk Memorial, and on the war memorials at Bromsgrove School and Worcester College, Oxford. In 1942 his family donated his law books to the College Law Library.