Smith, Alfred
Private
No. 6/5183 Royal Munster Fusiliers, transferred to
No. 48682 83rd Company, Machine Gun Corps
Died of disease on Thursday 10 October 1918 (aged 21)
Buried:
Kirechkoi-Hortakoi Military Cemetery, Greece (Grave 286)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Holywood and District War Memorial
Holywood Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Philip and St James)
BIOGRAPHY
Alfred Smith was born on 26 February 1897 in Hillsborough and he was a son of George and Emma Clarke Smith (nee Tinsdale) who were married on 4 January 1888 in Ballyclug Church of Ireland Church in Ballymena. George Smith, an RIC Constable, was living in Henry Street, Harryville and he was a son of William Smith, a farmer. Emma Tinsdale (aged 19) lived in Georges Street, Ballymena and she was a daughter of Robert Tinsdale, a boot and shoe shop proprietor.
The Smith family lived in Ballymena, Strangford, Hillsborough and Moira; then at 43 James Street, Newtownards and then at 2 Loughview Terrace, Shore Street, Holywood.
George Smith was promoted to the rank of Sergeant in the Royal Irish Constabulary and he and Emma had at least seven children:
Mary (Minnie, born 5 September 1888 in Georges Street, Ballymena)
William Robert (born 6 March 1890 in Strangford)
Maud Emma (born 15 January 1892 in Strangford)
George (born 10 March 1894 in Strangford)
Alfred (born 26 February 1897 in Hillsborough)
Alexander (born 15 March 1898 in Hillsborough)
Margaret (born 11 February 1902 in Carnalbanagh East, Moira)
Prior to the outbreak of the Great War Alfred Smith worked as an apprentice mechanic and then as a boilermaker. He enlisted in Belfast on 6 October 1914 and it was noted in his attestation papers that he was 5 feet 8¾ inches tall with a tattoo on his right arm.
Private Alfred Smith served with the Royal Munster Fusiliers (No. 6/5183) before being transferred to the Machine Gun Corps (No. 48682).
Private Alfred Smith (No. 48682) served with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in Salonika and he was 21 when he died of influenza in No. 60 General Hospital on 10 October 1918. He was buried in Kirechkoi-Hortakoi Military Cemetery in Greece.
Private Alfred Smith (No. 48682) is commemorated on Holywood and District War Memorial and in Holywood Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Philip and St James).