Private Major1 Ralph Smith, 3243, of the London Regiment, 2nd (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), died of wounds on 19th July, 1916 in France.
Family: A Snapshot of English Social History
In the mid-1820s, Major’s paternal grandfather and grandmother Smith, Ezekiel and Sarah (née Priest), were born and bred in the Black Country—the area to the west of Birmingham, so-called because of its underlying 30-foot coal seam. Their lives began and revolved around the settlements of Halesowen, Dudley and Rowley Regis; all lie within its ill-defined borders, in the County of Worcestershire. Of these settlements, Rowley Regis features most prominently in the family record.
Rowley Regis parish is one of the most populous of the manufacturing districts of Staffordshire, the inhabitants being principally employed in mining and the making of nails, anchors, chains and rivets; the potteries of Messrs. Doulton and Co. and Messrs. Hingley’s iron works and collieries are of considerable extent.’
Kelly’s Directory of Staffordshire 1896, p.294
Ezekiel and Sarah were employed in typical Black Country industries: Ezekiel was a rivet-maker and Sarah worked, along with all members of her family who were 14 and older, as a nail-maker.2 Sarah continued this work after marriage.

There is a symmetry in both sides of this generation of the family. All of Major’s four grandparents carry the name Smith. This unusual situation arose because his father (also called Major Smith) married Ellen Smith. If that weren’t sufficient confusion, his maternal grandfather, Thomas, was also a Black Country nail-maker. His wife brought some variety to the family line as she was a chain-maker, though brought up in a household of nail-makers.
All of these trades left families in grinding poverty, often little more than slaves to the supplier of raw materials and buyer of finished products—more often than not these were one and the same person, called a nailmaster. In the late 19th Century, 50,000 Black Country nail-makers were controlled by 50 nailmasters who could dictate rates of pay, hours of work, and who often owned the houses that workers lived and the tools they worked with and rented from them. None of the grandparents was able to escape this servitude; they were born, lived and died in their trade.
The pattern seemed set to continue. Major’s father was born in Rowley Regis in 1862 and, in 1881, is recorded as a nail-maker. On 5th August, 1889 he married nail-maker Ellen Smith, again of Rowley Regis. Ellen was five years younger than he, and in just over a year, their first child was born in Halesowen: Florence.
By the 1891 Census, his trade had changed to Bedstead [uncertain word] Maker’. This industry, a major employer in the area at this time and exporter to the world, was in steep decline.3 As in the nail trade, pay rates were very low. There was unrest in the workforce and it is possible that his father was involved in the successful bedstead-makers strike of December 1889, seeking better wages. Into this economically struggling family Major Ralph was born on 26th July, 1892, followed by Winifred May (1896) and Gladys Ellen (1898).
The escape from the Black Country and its associated industrial drudgery lay in an unusual direction: Major Ralph’s father became a Congregational Evangelist.4 5 The family must have moved with his new calling, first of all to Godalming, Surrey, where Major, Winifred and Gladys were born. The new life still had familiar challenges; the job brought with it a meagre salary of £90 per year, most of which was used to pay for their family home.‘ 6
By the turn of the century—it is in the 1901 census we read of the change to Congregational Evangelist—the family are to be found in East Boldre, Hampshire. Set on the edge of the New Forest between Lymington and Beaulieu, this rural village was a far cry from their old haunts.

The move would have disrupted the older children’s schooling. There is some uncertainty over where the children were educated. The natural choice would be the village National School.7 However, Major’s later college Student Record cites South Baddesley National School as his elementary school, which was over 3 miles distant. However, as this form often skips very early schools, it could be that he attended first East Boldre and then South Baddesley. He then attended what is given simply as ‘Medstead’. This indicates another family move to northeast Hampshire and schooling in Medstead National School—a small village school of around 60 pupils under the master, James H. May.
Major had obviously done well at school because he was able to secure a position as a pupil teacher. We return to Gallagher, who draws from post-War correspondence and insurance claims on behalf of Surrey County Council Education Department employees who had been killed in action during the Great War:
his parents invested a great deal in Major’s future, sacrificing much at their own expense to ensure he would receive the best education possible and ultimately become a schoolmaster. Major spent three years as a pupil-teacher’8
Usually a pupil teacher post would be in an elementary school—often the pupil’s existing school—but Major found a position at nearby Alton Grammar School. This is most unusual and would have been very different in ethos and educational standards.
At the end of his time as a pupil-teacher, in 1910 Major Ralph secured a place at Winchester Training College. The teacher-training he would receive there would, after two further years working as an assistant-teacher, give him Certification status. The fees involved would have been a further drain on the family purse.
Training 1910–1912

Nonconformist students, such as Major, were at a disadvantage at the College, which had a strong Church of England foundation. They would find it difficult to reach the required standard in Religious Education, which was heavily Anglican-centred. This was also a problem for those who had been brought up in unchurched families and educated in Board Schools, where they would not have received much religious education. William Smoker, who entered college in 1902 at the age of 21, had taught for nearly five years as a pupil-teacher in an East London dockland area school. He spent half of each day at the school and the other half at the Woolwich Pupil Teacher Centre. His religious education had, however, not received the same attention as those pupil-teachers serving in Church schools, and on entering college he encountered difficulties. Recollecting his college experience in 1966 he wrote:
The Prinny9 was most assiduous to us in his twice a week Divinity lectures. I had not been apprenticed in a Church of England School, and although I never appeared before the Principal for a breach of College rules, I was interviewed by him twice for my failing in Prayer Book history and for my inability to answer such Catechism questions as, ‘What did your Godfathers and Godmothers then for you?’10
Rose, M. A History of King Alfred’s College, Winchester 1840-1980
It is likely, however, that Major’s background as a child of the manse with its concomitant theological and ecclesiological awareness, and his education in a string of National Society schools (which had at its heart the education of children according to the Principles of the Established Church in England and Wales‘) would probably have given him the tools needed to navigate his way through the Divinity part of the curriculum.
College life was busy: lectures, practical teaching training, Chapel attendance and personal study filled most of the students’ time, but there was a recreational side of college life. Debates, indoor and outdoor games and sports, concerts, social events and other activities played a large part in the cohesion of the student body. Students printed an internal publication of news and events, The Wintonian. In this we read the only reference to him: In the Dormitory Cup competition, Major Smith dressed up as a Red Cross Ambulance man.’
The financing of Major’s time at College must have been difficult. There were fees to find and a list of items he had to buy and take with him at the start of his studies. Later Surrey County Council Education Department files report:
During this time, he relied on his parents’ financial support, as well as the small amount he had earned being a pupil teacher.’11
Major’s Student Record places him at 17th out of his year of 34 students, with a 61.4% average. His strongest subject was music and he finished his course towards the higher end of the Class II group (ranged from Class I to Class III).
At the successful conclusion of his studies in 1912, the College records show that Major left to teach at Ludlow Road Boys School, Itchen, Southampton. In order to achieve Certification, the leaving student had to complete two years teaching at the same school. Although we have no direct proof of dates, we must assume that Major completed two years in Itchen and then moved school since he is listed as teaching at Lingfield Council School in Surrey when he enlisted for wartime Army service.12
He showed his gratitude for the family’s support throughout his training:
when he became a qualified teacher, Major did what he could in return for his parents, becoming a great financial help to his family by sending money home almost every month. Even after joining the army, Smith gave permission for his parents to use his money as sent by the Lingfield School of Managers. Whilst they did use some of his wages, Major’s parents also saved some money in the bank, in the hope of his return.’ 13
We do not know the exact date of his enlistment into the Army, but his War Gratuity payment, which was based on length of service at the time of death, would place this in November 1914, shortly after he started his in his new post at Lingfield.
Life in Khaki

Major joined the 2nd Battalion London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), enlisting in London. His movements throughout the War are listed on his Medal Roll, where the Theatre of War is given by code, and the dates for disembarkation at and evacuation from that particular Theatre:

These places and dates tell us that he was in the 2/2nd Battalion. His first period marked as 4(a) was simply time spent in Egypt at a transfer station, awaiting onward transport. The second period is of particular importance, between October 1915 and January 1916, when the Battalion was engaged in the Gallipoli debacle. Major and his men landed on 7th October and met up with others in the Battalion, who had been in Gallipoli for some time, on the 10th. At this point in the campaign disease was the biggest enemy. During the week when Major’s recruits joined their fellows, one man had been killed, seven wounded, but thirty-four lost to active service through illness. The War Diary records that, on arrival, the new men were only wearing thin Khaki’—unsuitable for the cold, wet weather and supplied probably as a result from being shipped there from Egypt. Within days, the Diary reported, A very cold day. Freezing hard and a bitter wind.’ Many would die of exposure as well as enteric diseases.
As with most men in that invasion, the 2nd Battalion also suffered terribly from the firepower of the enemy. The hell of Gallipoli came to an end in January 1916: Major and his Battalion joined transports, returning them to Egypt as part of the general ignominious withdrawal and the end of the campaign. They would be stationed there, re-equipping and awaiting orders until 17th April, 1916, when the embarked for the Western Front.
The Battalion arrived in Marseilles one week later and were then moved to Rouen. They were to be stationed there until they were disbanded arround the end of May. Major was transferred to another Battalion of the London Regiment, the 1/12th.
The Battalion Diary indicates that Major joined the new battalion on May 24th at 2pm, at Halloy, 12 miles south west of Arras:
Draft of 200 O.R.[Other Ranks] from 2/2nd London Regiment Royal Fusiliers arrived
His new unit was in billets away from the front line, training, rebuilding and it would not be until June 8th that they would moved up to the front at Hebuterne. In typical fashion, they were in trenches for a few days at a time then relieved by another Battalion. Major was entering the Battle of the Somme. They then began the usual rotation of Reserve to Front Line to Billets and repeat. Their billets were in the village of Souastre from 15th to 21st June before they returned to training again at Halloy. The launch of the great Somme Offensive was planned to commence on June 28th and the battalion was moved up to Bayencourt in readiness for this at 5pm of June 27th only to receive a message from Brigade HQ that the attack was to be delayed 48 hours because of bad weather. On July 1st at 7.30pm the Battle of the Somme commenced with 19 huge explosions as mines under the German advance trenches were detonated and moments later Major and his comrades went over the top.

The initial thrust was hard-fought but the enemy front line trench and then the second line was taken. However, the counter-attack was swift and ferocious and caused the men to fall back to the first trench they had taken. Still hard-pressed by the enemy they found themselves pinned down. The German artillery were laying down a heavy barrage across no-man’s land so retreat was cut off. They were also running short of bombs and the runners who were tasked to bring these across no-man’s land could not do so. It wasn’t until night fell that those who survived were able to retreat to their own front line. The cost had been tremendous. From an estimated 750 men at the start of the day they reported the return of only 5 officers (excluding eleven who had remained behind in reserve) and of Other Ranks ‘About 200.’ The unwounded of the four Battalion’s Companies read as follows:
- A Company: 1 Officer and 49 Other Ranks
- B Company: (Unreported) Officers and 57 Other Ranks
- C Company: (Unreported) Officers and 63 Other Ranks
- D Company: (Unreported) Officer and 46 Other Ranks
Major had survived this perilous day, one which had earned a Military Cross and three Military Medals for those in the battalion who had exhibited outstanding courage. The losses across the Somme battleground on this day were tragic: the British Army alone had lost 20,000 dead and 40,000 wounded in fewer than 24 hours. Total casualties across all nations that day exceeded 1.2 million men.
The battalion, unsurprisingly, now had to rebuild and so after being relieved at 12.30am on July 2nd and five days in a quieter trench section at Fonquevillers, they returned to billets where the ‘Battalion rested and refitted.’ On July 10th they moved to new billets at Sailly where they received their third draft of new men. The drafts were of 158, 126 and 154 arriving on the 12th, 13 and 16th. With almost no time to incorporate the new men into the Battalion, on the 17th they were ordered back towards the front line at Hebuterne.
We know that Major Died of Wounds at Le Tréport Hospital on July 19th but we do not know when he was wounded. The only direct statement we have, which is unattributed, is that it was a few days before his death (Gallagher). Major had been evacuated from the front line to No.16 General Hospital at Le Tréport. Writing to Major’s father the day after his death the Scottish hospital chaplain, Rev. Hubert Louis Simpson MA, says, ‘I saw a good deal of him the days previous to his death. He had been getting on well and we all hoped that he would recover…we had many quiet talks together’ The language heavily implies a hospital stay over more than just a couple of days. We are fortunate to have a list of the wounded from the days before Major’s admission to hospital. The Statement of Casualties for the Month of July 1916 for the Battalion reads as follows:

This is helpful but it gives no certainty and so recourse to conjecture is the only way forward. The 12–14th July saw 3 Other Ranks as casualties. It would probably be stretching the language of the chaplain’s letter too far to include the 15th or 18th as a date for the wounding, especially allowing a probable 36 hours for the transfer through the army system from front line through first aid post and field ambulance onto transport and then to the coast. In terms of probability, balancing the 318 wounded against the 3 of the later days (which do not sit comfortably with the sense of the letter), the likelihood is he was wounded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1st.
Leaving aside the minutiae of dates, the letter is of far more importance in gaining an insight into Major’s character and frame of mind as he lay wounded:
No.16 General Hospital
B.E.F.
France
July 20th, 1916Dear Sir,
I understand that you are the father of 0/3243 Rfm. M.R. Smith who died in hospital here yesterday morning at 1 a.m. I saw a good deal of him the days previous to his death. He had been getting on well, and we all hoped that he would recover. His death has been a real sorrow to all of us and I write to you to offer you my deepest sympathy.
I soon discovered that your son was a man above the average and we had many quiet talks together about school-teaching, education, religion, and so-forth. Rfm Smith enjoyed reading, and just before his death he asked me for some writing paper so doubtless you heard from him. On the night of the 18th it was obvious that he was sinking, and although breathing was difficult he was not suffering much. He asked me to read to him, and I read some verses of Scripture—Psalm 23, Isaiah 43 v.1 & 2, Romans 8 v.3–39. I then prayed with him and at the close he said Amen.
I am sure that in the midst of your sorrow you will have a just pride in your son’s devotion and self-sacrifice. I can well understand how grievous his loss must be to you all, because although I had known him only a short time I had grown very fond of him. Everybody was impressed by his quiet, brave, spirit, his gentleness and thoughtfulness.
Yours with deep sympathy,
(Signed) Hubert L. Simpson
Chaplain to the ForcesP.S. I buried the body in the British Cemetery (Mont Huon) here (Le Tréport). A wooden cross will be erected over the grave bearing his name, regiment, and date of death.

Major is buried in the British cemetery of Mount Huon in Le Tréport, France.
His sister Gladys followed Major into teaching. This was something which had pleased him and he expressed a desire to support her financially. Although his official will left all property, effects and money to his father, some of the money which had been saved in the bank was used to support his sister through her education and training to teach, at Goldsmith’s College.15
Major and Ellen Smith wrote that they had ‘no regrets about the expenses or sacrifices’ for their son: ‘he was worthy of it’.16

Researcher and Author: John Vickers
Sources
For all general Winchester training College records please see the list of University of Winchester sources at the end of the following Sources list.
Ancestry (2018). Home page. [online] Available at: www.ancestry.co.uk [Accessed 2018].
Commonwealth War Graves Commission, (2018). Mount Huon Military Cememtery, Le Treport. [online] Available at https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-
cemetery/cemetery/11700/mont-
huon-military-cemetery,-le-treport/ [Accessed 2018].
Gallagher, K. (2018) Surrey in the Great War—Major Ralph Smith – Case 15. [online] Available at: http://www.surreyinthegreatwar.org.
uk/story/major-ralph-smith/eatwar.
org.uk/people/page/10/?s=ham&
search=1 [Accessed 2018].
Kelly’s Directory (1896). Kelly’s Directory of Staffordshire 1896. [online] Available at: http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/
cdm/ref/collection/p16445coll4/
id/339984 [Accessed 2018].
Kelly’s Directory (1898). Kelly’s Directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, 1898. [online] Available at: http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/
cdm/ref/collection/p16445coll4/
id/218262 [Accessed 2018].
The Long Long Trail, (2018). Medal roll theatre codes. [online] Available at: http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/
soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/
campaign-medal-records/how-to-interpret-
a-campaign-medal-index-card/medal-
roll-theatre-codes/ [Accessed 2018].
National Union of Teachers. (1920). War Record 1914–1919. A Short Account of Duty and Work Accomplished During the War. London: NUT.
Rose, M. (1981). A history of King Alfred’s College, Winchester 1840-1980. London: Phillimore.
Vickers, J. University of Winchester Chapel Memorial Rail image.
University of Winchester Archive at Hampshire Record Office
All the following documents are general background resources for the WTC Fallen project and provide general period background of students, college life, staff, activities, etc. The Finding Numbers are given to aid archive searches.
47M91W/P2/4 The Wintonian 1899-1900
47M91W/P2/5 The Wintonian 1901-1902
47M91W/P2/6 The Wintonian 1903-1904
47M91W/P2/7 The Wintonian 1904-1906
47M91W/P2/8 The Wintonian 1905-1907
47M91W/P2/10 The Wintonian 1908-1910
47M91W/P2/11 The Wintonian 1910-1914
47M91W/P2/12 The Wintonian 1920-1925
47M91W/D1/2 The Student Register
47M91W/S5/5/10 Photograph of 5 alumni in Mesopotamia
47M91W/Q3/6 A Khaki Diary
47M91W/B1/2 Reports of Training College 1913-1914
47M91W/Q1/5 Report and Balance Sheets 1904- 1949
47M91W/R2/5 History of the Volunteers Company 1910
47M91W/L1/2 College Rules 1920
55M81W/PJ1 Managers’ Minute Book 1876-1903
71M88W/6 List of Prisoners at Kut
All material referenced as 47M91W/ is the copyright of The University of Winchester. Permission to reproduce photographs and other material for this narrative has been agreed by the University and Hampshire Record Office.
- Major is his first name, not Army rank
- Often appearing in records as ‘Nailer’ or ‘Nailor’
- T. H. Kelly, Wages and labour organisation in the brass trades of Birmingham and District (Ph.D. thesis, Birmingham University, 1930)
- The Congregational churches were a loose association of independent chapels and not a structured denomination. Each congregation/chapel was autonomous. The local church would appoint a minister directly and agree employment terms and conditions (including, in this case, his title of Evangelist rather than the usual Pastor or Minister). In 1972 many of the Congregational churches joined with the Presbyterian Denomination to form the United Reformed Church
- There is no prior intimation that the family had nonconformist connections, but this would not have been unlikely. Nonconformist churches were particularly active and successful in areas of social deprivation and amongst the industrial working class. Their work was at its zenith in the late 19th Century.
- Kathleen Gallagher research article at http://www.surreyinthegreatwar.org.
uk/story/major-ralph-smith/ The article is the result of an investigation of documents held by Surrey History Centre. The file (SHC ref. CC7/4/4, nos. 1-50) contains correspondence and insurance claims on behalf of Surrey County Council Education Department employees who had been killed in action during the Great War. The cases date from 1915 to 1918. Major Ralph Smith’s documents are in File 15 of the set. - A small school of 60 or so pupils, under the headship of Thomas Lambert. (Kelly’s Directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, 1898)
- Gallagher
- The Principal was Henry Martin (b. 1844, d. 1919) Principal 1878-1912, he was also a member of the Alpine Club and one of a few to have reached the summit of the Matterhorn.
- Today this third question of the Shorter Catechism reads as a misprint. It is a grammatically correct but archaic form of ‘What then did your Godfathers and Godmothers do for you?’
- Gallagher
- National Union of Teachers War Record 1914–1919
- Gallagher
- This second occurrence of 4a carries a different definition from the first as the Codes were changed on 1st January, 1916
- Gallagher
- Ibid.