Frederick J Smith

Frederick James Smith 14688

14th Reinforcements Wellington Infantry Battalion, B Company
& 2nd Battalion, Auckland Regiment

24 October 1890 - 1 August 1961

Fred is the step-brother of my great grandmother Alice Cobb (nee Gardiner). 
He is related through my mother's father's side of the family. 

I have researched the following information about Fred 
from his military records and other related texts. 
I have endeavored to record the story 
of his involvement in the war as accurately as possible. 

Fred Smith. Photo taken by Mrs Cobb, Napier & Hastings.
Date unknown, but possibly 1916.

Frederick (Fred) James Smith was the second, and youngest son of English born immigrants to New Zealand, Thomas George Smith (1851 - Dec 1919), a shoemaker, and Jane Simmons (c16 Nov 1851 - 9 Jan 1917). He was born in Ashurst, near Palmerston North. Fred had one full brother:

• Thomas Edward Smith (1889 - 20 January 1917)

Fred also had ten step-siblings. Six of them came from his mother's first marriage to George Gardner  (9 May 1856 - 24 Dec 1886):

• Mary Elizabeth Jane Gardner (1878 - 1961) 
• Francis (Frank) William  Gardner (1879 - 1943)  
• Clara Lorr.aine Gardner (1880 -  6 Aug 1920)
• Alice Maud Gardner (11 June 1883 - May 1950) 
• Emily Annie Gardner (Jan 1884 - 19 Feb 1972)
• Mabel Gardner (1885 - 31 Aug 1968)

Fred was also step-brother to the four children born to Thomas Smith and his first wife, Bridget Callighan (1844 - 10 Jan 1920):

• Thomas Smith (9 June 1871 - 1873)
• Henry Smith (1877 - 4 Sep 1959)
• James Patrick Smith (11 Jan 1879 - 30 Dec 1932)
• Mary Smith (1884 - 1935)

Scandal
Thomas, Fred's father led a colourful life although he professed to belong to the Salvation Army Church. Unbeknownst to Fred or his siblings, their mother had received a strange letter from the Dead Letter Office addressed to 'Mrs Thomas Smith, Oamaru' and sent from Thomas Smith in Ormondville. Jane had opened the letter and read it. To her horror she discovered that her husband had another wife and family in the South Island. For whatever reason, Jane decided not to tell a soul about the contents of the letter. However, shortly afterwards, Thomas Snr disappeared without warning.

In September 1893 when Fred was just three years old, his father, Thomas Snr, was arrested for failing to comply with a court order to support his first wife and children. As a result, his bigamist activities came to light. They were reported publicly, in The Bush Advocate, Volume XI, Issue 831, 14 September 1893:

The court case was reported on 23 September 1893. At his trial, Thomas Snr pleaded guilty to bigamy and was sentenced to two years hard labour at the Napier Prison (New Zealand's oldest prison). The Bush Advocate, Volume XI, Issue 835, published on 23 September reported the following facts from the trial:








The New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9312, 22 September 1893 reported the case succinctly, as follows:







Napier Prison was not a pleasant place. Information about the conditions Thomas would have experienced there were reported in The Daily Telegraph, 22 May 1894.

Getting back to Fred now...

Fred was working as a shepherd in Patagata, Hawkes Bay, when he enlisted for service on 6 March, 1916, aged 25. His mother, Mrs T Smith, lived nearby in Waipawa.

Fred served as a Private with the 14th Reinforcements Wellington Infantry Battalion, B Company. He left from Wellington on 26 June, 1916 on the troopship, Maunganui bound for Devonport, England. En route to England, Fred committed an unspecified offence which resulted in him forteiting a day's pay and being fined 4 shillings. The website, The British Army indicates that soldiers could be fined a days pay for small scale misdemeanors such as being unshaven, untidy, late, or for failing to salute an officer correctly.

Fred marched into Sling Camp on 23 August, 1916, then was marched on to France on 14 September. On 1 October, Fred was with the 2nd Battalion, Auckland Regiment in the field.

Fred's mother, Jane, died on 9 January 1917 and less than two weeks later his full brother, Thomas (aged 28), tragically died in Palmerston North Hospital on 20 January 1917, as a result of a motorcycle accident.

A sickly Fred was sent to the No.1 New Zealand Field Ambulance on 26 April 1917 but recovered, and was able to rejoin his battalion two weeks later, on 8 May.

Unfortunately, on 4 June, Fred received severe gunshot wounds to his left hand, left thigh and the mastoid region of his skull. He was initially treated by the No.77 Field Ambulance before being admitted to the 83rd General Hospital in Boulogne, France, where he was classified 'dangerously ill.' A week later Fred was sent back to England on the British hospital ship St Andrew and was admitted to the 2nd New Zealand General Hospital in Walton.

News of Fred's serious injuries were cabled to his father, Thomas, who was living in Waipawa at the time. This information reached him almost one week after Fred was wounded. On 15 June, the following report was printed in The Manawatu Times. It mentions J Smith, but we believe it actually refers to Fred.

On 2 August 1917, Fred was classified as being unfit for service and boarded the hospital ship Maheno at Avonmouth to return to New Zealand.

Maheno ,1917

Below is a letter written by Fred's maternal aunt, Annie Smith (nee Simmons) who wrote to him after he was injured inviting him to stay with her at her home in the UK. It seems that he had already boarded the hospital ship to return to New Zealand so the letter would have arrived too late.

Fred was discharged from military service on 15 January 1918 with his record citing that he was physically unfit for war service due to the injuries he received in action. He had served a total of 1 year, 87 days overseas, and 228 days in New Zealand.

These military certificates are currently being held by his grandson.

Fred Smith.
Photo by Tesla Studios, Heretaunga Street, Hastings.
Date unknown but around 1919. 

Fred received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his contribution to The Great War.

Once Fred had sufficiently recovered and was able to work again, he gained employment as a shepherd and oxen driver at Blackhead Station, which was a large sheep farm situated on the east coast hills, south of Napier. While working there, he met his future parents, William Walker (1 Jan 1871 - 6 July 1928) and his wife Hannah Dunn (1864 - 31 May 1935). They had three children, and it was their second daughter Doris that caught Fred's eye!

Fred married Doris Ethel Walker (1899 - 31 August 1988) on 7 July 1919 in the St Matthew's Church, Hastings. The official witnesses to the marriage were William Walker (Doris' father) & Graham McCormack

Doris was born in Baildon, Yorkshire. She had an older sister, Elsie Walker (1896 - ?) and a younger brother Albert E C Walker (1903 - 3 May 1967). The Walker family immigrated to New Zealand from Baildon, Yorkshire, sometime after 1911 (the family are recorded on the 1911 UK Census). 

Fred (second from right) and Doris (seated) on their wedding day, 7 July 1919.
The others in the picture are unknown but possibly Doris' siblings, and Fred's father.
Photographer unknown.
(Photo courtesy of G J Bland)

Fred and Doris had three children:

• Arthur Smith (dates unknown)
• Joan Smith (dates unknown)
• Margaret Smith (dates unknown)

The Smiths lived in Patongata until their son Arthur was about five years old when they moved into Hastings so he could attend school. Fred worked for the City Council doing maintenance jobs like gardening and cleaning gutters.

Daughters, Joan and Margaret, were born in Hastings Hospital.

.

Joan & Margaret, Fred's daughters. December 1949.
(Photo courtesy of  G J Bland)

The Smith's home, 1009 Beattie Street, Hastings. Date unknown
(Photo courtesy of G J Bland)

How the house looked in 2015. Photo by K Bland.

Fred, Doris, Freda (a family friend), and daughter Margaret Smith (later Cross).
c1950
(Photo courtesy of G J Bland)

Doris and Fred at their daughter Margaret's wedding in 1955.

Photographer unknown

(Photo courtesy of G J Bland)

Fred died 1 August 1961. He was buried at the Hastings Cemetery, Block S, Plot 656. Doris passed away on 31 August 1988 aged 89. She was buried with her husband. 

Notes
Children of Thomas and Bridget Smith:

• Thomas Smith (9 June 1871 - 1873)
• He was born in Dublin, and was baptised on 12 June. He died there when still a toddler.
• Henry Smith (1877 - 4 September 1959)
• Henry married Susan Lucas Dale (1875 - 8 Sep 1964)
• James Patrick Smith (11 January 1879 - 30 December 1932)
• James married Mary Wilson (dates unknown) on 18 October 1916.
• Mary Smith (1884 - 1935)
• Mary married William James Waddington Cullimore (April 1885 - 1963), in 1907
• Mary was buried with her parents in Oamaru.