25th County of London Cyclist Battalion
The London Regiment


 Wansey SMITH


 
Obituary

The death in action of Second Lieutenant Wansey Smith of "C" Company of the Second Battalion is grieved, not only by his old Company but the Second Battalion as a whole, for his numerous friends were by no means confined to his own Company. He would have gone to Chiseldon with the draft from the Second, but for an illness which placed him hors de combat on the very eve of departure. He was then a cyclist, having reverted from the rank of corporal at his own request, but in the spring of 1916 he was again promoted and went to Flanders as a lance corporal, where he saw a considerable amount of fighting. He was subsequently given a commission and sent back to England to an O.T.C. at Rhyl, but was soon out again for the second time. He eventually transferred to the R.A.F. having had pre-war experience of aviation, and it was in that corps that he met his death. He was on observation duty, flying low over the German lines at Ypres, when his pilot was wounded, and it is thought, fell on the controls, thus causing the machine to crash, luckily within the British lines.
Medical aid was on the spot, but nothing could be done to save his life. We take this opportunity of offering our sincerest condolences to Wansley's parents in their terrible loss, in which condolences, we are sure, all who knew him will join.

[The Londoner magazine, Feb 1919 - V.III, No.2 pg.52-53.]
 

In Memory of

2nd Lt. Wansey SMITH

Royal Air Force

who died age 26 on 2 April 1918 in France
 
Son of George Wansey Smith and Henrietta Maud Smith, of Finchley, London.

Remembered with honour  Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium.

Commemorated in perpetuity by
the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Location Information
Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery is located 12 Kms west of Ieper town centre, on the Boescheepseweg, a road leading from the N308 connecting Ieper to Poperinge.
From Ieper town centre the Poperingseweg (N308) is reached via the Elverdingestraat, then over two small roundabouts in the J. Capronstraat. The Poperingseweg is a continuation of the J. Capronstraat and begins after a prominent railway level crossing.
On reaching Poperinge, the N308 joins the left hand turning onto the R33, Poperinge ring road. The R33 ring continues to the left hand junction with the N38 Frans-Vlaanderenweg. 800 metres along the N38 lies the left hand turning onto Lenestraat. The next immediate right hand turning leads onto Boescheepseweg. The cemetery itself is located 2 Kms along Boescheepseweg on the right hand side of the road.

Historical Information
During the First World War, the village of Lijssenthoek was situated on the main communication line between the Allied military bases in the rear and the Ypres battlefields. Close to the Front, but out of the extreme range of most German field artillery, it became a natural place to establish casualty clearing stations. The cemetery was first used by the French 15th Hopital D'Evacuation and in June 1915, it began to be used by casualty clearing stations of the Commonwealth forces.
From April to August 1918, the casualty clearing stations fell back before the German advance and field ambulances (including a French ambulance) took their places.
The cemetery contains 9,901 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 24 being unidentified. There are 883 war graves of other nationalities, mostly French and German, 11 of these are unidentified. There is 1 Non World War burial here.
The only concentration burials were 24 added to Plot XXXI in 1920 from isolated positions near Poperinghe and 17 added to Plot XXXII from St. Denijs Churchyard in 1981.
Eight of the headstones are Special Memorials to men known to be buried in this cemetery, these are located together alongside Plot 32 near the Stone of Remembrance.
The cemetery, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, is the second largest Commonwealth cemetery in Belgium.

[Courtesy of Commonwealth War Graves Commission]

 

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