SMITH, Albert

Rifleman Albert Smith

Rifleman, 14th Batt., Royal Irish Rifles
Service No: 17005
Died: 16/08/1917
Age: 22

Remembered on Tyne Cot Memorial
Remembered on family memorial in Bangor Cemetery

Albert was born in Partick, Glasgow in 1895 the son of John Smith, a shoe maker, and his wife Elizabeth (nee Haddock) and was the second of their 10 children.

His father John, was from the Maze in Lisburn, had moved to Glasgow where he worked for the Belfast and Glasgow Boot Company and it was there he married his wife Elizabeth in Partick in 1892. Albert and his older sister Edith were born there before the family returned, first to Lisburn (son John born at the Maze in July 1897) and thence to Belfast where the rest of their children were born.

His father John worked his way up through the company (and would eventually become its proprietor) and Albert became an apprentice in the firm on leaving school.

Albert enlisted with the 14th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles (YCV) entering France in October 1915 and was killed in action at Passchendaele in August 1917. His brother John, who served with the 15th Battalion, was taken prisoner and released after the Armistice.

Portrait photo courtesy Great War Belfast Clippings.