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 26664 2nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
Gilbert Smith was born in Sudbury around 1894, one of five children of Arthur Harry and Emily Jane Smith. His father was a bootmaker and the family lived at 10 Market Hill. After his father’s death in 1904 the family moved to 16 Newmans Road. At the age of 17 Gilbert was employed as a printer’s apprentice.
Gilbert enlisted in Cambridge and served with the Suffolk Regiment. The battalion formed part of 76th Brigade, 3rd Division and in the summer of 1916 the battalion saw action in the opening phases of the Battle of the Somme (1 July – 18 November) at the battles of Albert (1 – 13 July), Bazentin (14 – 17 July) and Delville Wood (15 July –3 September). Gilbert served alongside other Sudbury men who lost their lives on the Somme in 1916 including: Charles Goody, Alec Farrance, George Parker and Percy Partridge.
Gilbert had only been in France for six weeks when he was killed in action aged 22 on 18 August 1916. There is no known grave and he is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.
His mother received a letter from Second Lieutenant Nields who although he didn’t know him personally wrote that ‘the men spoke of him with affection and respect’. The officer was unable to give any fuller details as he himself had been wounded.
A Cross of Remembrance was laid at the Thiepval Memorial in April 2006 and April 2009. Gilbert was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
Gilbert’s older brother Arthur lost his life in France in 1918, he is also remembered on the Sudbury War Memorial.
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