Public Contributions:

William Alexander Smith was shot in both legs on Saturday the 21st August 1915 at Kaiajik Bair (or Hill 60). He was evacuated to HMHS Gloucester Castle on Monday 23 August and later that night transf...erred to SS Franconia, where he died on Thursday the 26 August at 12.30am on route to England. Accounts vary as to whether he was buried at sea in the Aegean (Lat 37.12' N, Log 24.38' E) or offloaded and buried at Gibraltar Read More


William Alexander Ivory Smith. William had two sisters when he enlisted. His mother died in 1910 when he was 19 and his two sisters were 14 and 16. The elder being afflicted by illness. William enlis...ted on August 13 1914 and arrived in Egypt on 4 December 1914. The journey started on 23 September 1914 from Lyttleton harbour with stops along the way at, Wellington NZ, Hobart Tasmania, Albany, Western Australia, Colombo, Ceylon/Sri Lanka, Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. The Canterbury Mounted Rifles arrived at Gallipoli on 12th May 1915 and saw action over May and June and July at Walker's Ridge and Chunuk Bair. Between 18 July 1914 to 7 August 1915 Trooper Smith had a particular bad time with dysentery and diarrhoea. Trooper Smith was part of a group from the 29th Indian Brigade, the Canterbury Mounted Rifles and the Otago Mounted Rifles who joined with Australians of the 13th and 14th Battalions to attack Hill 60. At 15:30 on 21 August the Battle for Hill 60 began. Charging straight at the hill, the Canterbury Regiment suffered sixty per cent casualties, among them G F Hutton in command. He was replaced by Major Hurst, from the 1st Squadron, and they succeeded in capturing the Turkish trench within fifteen minutes of going over the top. But on either side of them the rest of the attack had failed, leaving them isolated from the rest of the force. Not having the manpower to continue the assault, they were ordered to dig in and hold the position. With no effective artillery support, under fire from Hill 60 and neighbouring Hill 100, the infantry were decimated. Trooper Smith was shot through both legs. Chaplain to the Forces Alan D Johnson, Chaplain on board the Franciona details what happened to Trooper Smith thereafter. "It is with very great regret indeed that I write to tell you of the death of Mr W.A.Smith Trooper 7/124 Otago (sic) Mounted Rifles, and I do send you my very sincere sympathy. It seems so hard to lose him when he is so far from home. He came away from the Gallipoli Peninsula on the Hospital ship Gloucester Castle on Monday Aug 23rd. That night he was transferred to the Franconia on which ship I was the chaplain. This ship is a very large one and Mr Smith was placed in a large room with other patients severely injured. Mr Smith was shot through both legs. He was there two days or thereabouts, he passed away at 12:30am on Thursday Aug 26th 1915 or about 50 hours from his being brought on to the Franconia. His death was felt very much and it must be a great loss to you and the rest of his relations. We were just leaving Mudros Harbour in the Island of Lemnos on our way to England with the wounded and Mr Smith was buried at sea at noon on the same day as that on which he passed away (Aug 26th) in the Aegean Latitude 37.12 North and Longitude 24.38 East. I took the service. With my sincere sympathy and my regret at the loss of so good a man, and praying that God will comfort you. Yours Faithfully Alan D Johnson Chaplain to the forces Church of England. " The commanding officer, G F Hutton, of the Canterbury Mounted rifles during the campaign wrote a second letter to his sister (Ethel Edith Louisa May Smith). " I was on board the same ship (S. S. Franciona) as your son W. A. Smith when he died of his wounds, received in action on Aug 21, at the Dardinelles, while attacking a hill held by the Turks and known as Kaiajik Bair. This hill we took after a lot of hard fighting in which the Canterbury Mounted Rifles suffered very severly, being reduced, I heard, afterwards to 15 men and no officers. I made enquiries as to where your son was buried. I was not able to go there myself owing to my own wound. But the garrison Chaplain at Gibraltar at which place his body was landed for burial, wrote me that he was buried in the cemetery there and that if the relatives should like to place any stone on the grave, the secretary of the cemetery would willingly undertake to see to the carrying out of the work by a firm of monumental masons in Gibraltar, who were to be relied on. I send you my sincerest sympathy in your sad loss Yours Sincerely G. F. Hutton." While the second letter would have been some comfort to his grieving sister it seems more likely that he was buried at sea. Read More