W.+R.+S.+SMITH

Smith, William Reginald Sturston, Second Lieutenant, 28th Squadron, Royal Flying Corps Died 22nd October 1917 Commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial

Ashbourne News, 1st February 1918 William Reginald Sturston Smith died of wounds in Germany as a prisoner of war. He was the son of the late Mr. T. B. Smith and Mrs. Smith, of Hampstead, and nephew of Mr. J. H. Smith J.P., of Clifton Hall, and the Rev. F. Clifton Smith, of Clifton Cottage. Educated at Lindley Lodge, Nuneaton, and at Shrewsbury, where he was a prefect and a member of the cricket eleven and a golfer. It was in January 1917 that he joined the Royal Flying Corps, obtaining his wings in the August. He went to France in the middle of October, and was reported missing on the 22nd. He was well known in Clifton, having spent a great deal of time with his uncle at Clifton Hall. He was aged just 19 years old when he died.