Village memories: Village centre (picture from SWOP website)
No picture available
AS YET TO BE IDENTIFIED FROM CWGC RECORDS
RESEARCH IS ONGOING.
The most likely connection is to a family living in Flackwell Heath in 1901.
Head of the family is John Smith and his wife Eliza.
Children listed are, Luke 18yrs, Martha 16yrs, Roland 14yrs, Owen 12yrs, Percy 11yrs,
Sidney 9yrs, HAROLD 7yrs and Stanley 3yrs.
In 1911 Harold is 17yrs old and living at home with his parents and brothers Percy and Sidney. Harold is an “assistant machine man”. His parents record having 11 children and 10 are still living at this time. Harold would have been about 20yrs old at the start of WW1.
Unfortunately research cannot connect this Harold to records held by the CWGC because there are many Harold Smiths and many are without next of kin information.
There are also three more Harold Smiths in the local area at this time. One was Harold John Smith who lived at Spring Gardens, Little Marlow. His parents were Charles & Rhoda. He was 14yrs old in 1901.This Harold went to Canada and married a Beatrice Lewis. He was a soldier with the Canadian Expeditionary Force but research cannot prove he was a War casualty.
Another Harold Arthur Smith was born in Wooburn.
Lastly there was a Harold Smith born in 1898 living at Thornton Cottages, Bourne End. His parents were Henry & Annie. This Harold would have only been 16yrs old at the start of the War.
The surname Smith is of course very common and we already have Arthur Gilbert Smith son of George & Mary Ann, and his brother Reuben Smith, Teddy Smith son of Edward & Hannah, and Joseph Jeremiah son of George & Esther whose names all appear on the Memorial. This shows how many Smith families were in the area at this time.