After 107 years, an official resting place for Captain Smith

AN “unknown” soldier's grave has been identified almost exactly 107 years after his death.

- By JESS MOLYNEUX

Born on February 19, 1884, in Chagford, Dartmoor, Captain Hubert Leslie Smith was one of six children and first trained as a schoolmaster.

In August 1914, he married Bertha Hilda Frances Rogulski and months later enlisted into the Army, on January 8, 1915. A keen rugby player, he was initially posted to 24th Battalion (2nd Sportsmen's) The Royal Fusiliers, before being transferred to The King’s (Liverpool Regiment) on April 17, 1915.

Capt Smith was commissioned into 19th Battalion, the same battalion to which his brother Captain Harold Aubrey Smith belonged. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1916 and to captain in 1917.

Capt Smith died on March 24, 1918 and after the war, the 34-year-old’s remains were recovered and buried in Ham British Cemetery as an unknown captain of The King’s (Liverpool Regiment). As he was missing, Capt Smith was commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.

But now, over a century on, his final resting place has been named in France. A rededication service, at which his name was added to his gravestone, was held yesterday, at his graveside in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Ham British Cemetery near Saint-Quentin.