Current Information:

Age-21

45, Spenser Road, Herne Hill

On 28th February, 1915, the 18th Hussars of 2nd Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, moved into trenches near Zillebeke in the Ypres salient where they remained until relieved on 4th March. During this time spent in these trenches 18th Hussars had one man killed and nineteen wounded. The man killed was William Smith on 2nd March but the unit diary provides no further information concerning his death. The attrition rate among British soldiers on the Western Front was on average 300 each day and 60% of these were as a result of shellfire. When not involved in an actual battle it was either shell fire or a sniper’s bullet that caused most deaths and injuries.