Notes
The Bradford Grammar School website (see References) states: 'Harold Smith was born in Liverpool on 12th April 1889. His father Samuel William Smith had married Bessie Milner in the Liverpool suburb of West Derby in 1886. Their fathers were both grocers. Harold was the second of their three children and their only son. In the early 1890s the family moved to Baildon. Samuel was a manager for the wool broker’s company Messrs. Thomas & Cook of London in which he became a partner. The family home was Sefton Lodge on Station Road, Baildon. Harold entered the Bradford Grammar School junior department in 1895 when he was six. He missed his second year and then left at the age of ten in July 1899. His final year was not a success, and he completed his schooling at home with his sisters under the charge of a governess. He went to work as a clerk for his father where he was well known on
the floor of the Bradford Wool Exchange.
Harold Smith was twenty-five when war broke out. He was not among the first wave of young Bradford professional men who formed the initial officer corps of the newly-raised reserve 6th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment in September-October 1914. He volunteered shortly after and was commissioned in March 1915. Three months later at Baildon Parish Church he married Ellen Robinson. She was the daughter of a cloth manufacturer and was almost literally the ‘girl next door’. If Harold was expecting an early posting abroad he was frustrated as on at least five occasions 62nd Division’s orders to go overseas were cancelled. However, this had the advantage that Harold was able to take home leave and his wife gave birth to two children, the second after Harold’s death.
The 62nd Division finally went to France on 6th January 1917. Harold Smith was a platoon
commander in ‘B’ Company, however for the 3rd May attack on Bullecourt he seems to have been in the reserve echelon or at head quarters. There is no doubting that he was an extremely brave officer. On 13th September when ‘B’ Company was holding an exposed position, the Germans raided in force at 5 a.m. in revenge for a British raid two days before.
When his Company commander was killed by a shell Smith took command and continued to
move from post to post with complete disregard for his own safety. For this brave behaviour he was awarded the Military Cross. He was also made Acting Captain and took command of ‘B’ Company. On 20th November, the opening day of the attack at Cambrai, Smith was liaison officer with the next battalion. He had rejoined the 2/6th West Yorkshire Battalion north-west of Graincourt when the Germans launched a strong counter-attack on the morning of 22nd November. The 2/6th held an exposed trench resembling a reversed letter ‘L’. They had to man the north-south trench on both sides as the Germans worked round their flanks. At the end of the confused fighting Smith was found to be missing. Soon afterwards a fellow officer wrote in a letter, ‘Harold Smith, no trace, last seen manning a Lewis gun.’ His Commanding Officer wrote ‘Smith is missing—I have no doubt he is killed.’ His former Commanding Officer wrote to Harold’s family, ‘Captain Harold Smith when last seen was leading his company with absolute coolness and disregard for danger … knowing him as I do, I have no doubt that he was killed at the head of his men.’
A fortnight before his death Smith had come home on leave. It was only in July 1918 that the War Office confirmed there was no possibility that he was a prisoner and that for ‘official purposes’ he was dead. In August 1918 a concert for wounded soldiers was held in his memory at Baildon Golf Club. His wife remarried in 1921.'