Current Information:

Born-Westminster

Maubeuge (Sous-le-Bois) Cemetery, France

After the opening battles of the war at Mons on 23rd August, 1914 and Le Cateau on 26th August, the British Army (BEF), in conjunction with the French Army, began a retreat that took them all the way back to the River Marne, 200 miles to the south. With the Germans in hot pursuit they were forced to fight a series of rear guard actions as they fell back in extremely hot weather. The Great Retreat, as it became known, came to an end on 5th September, 1914 when the allied forces attacked along the River Marne and drove the Germans back to the River Aisne.

 On 1^st September 1914, the 12th Lancers of 5th Cavalry Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division along with the rest of the BEF were retreating south in the face of a far larger German force. The exact details of their whereabouts and the circumstances of the death of James Smith are as yet, unknown.