Profile

SMITH, George Stewart
(Service number N/N)

Aliases	Known as Stewart
First Rank	2nd Lieutenant	Last Rank

Birth

Date	22 March 1888	Place of Birth	Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date	9 April 1915	Age	27 years
Address at Enlistment	144 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn, Victoria
Occupation	Grain buyer
Previous Military Experience	School Cadets - 2 years
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Anthony Adrian SMITH (father), 144 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Victoria
Religion	Presbyterian
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 7¼ inches. Weight 140 lbs

Military Service

Served with	Australian Imperial Force	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	14th Reinforcement
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	6th Battalion
Date	28 January 1916
Transport	Themistocles
Embarked From		Destination

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns	Western European
Service Medals
Military Awards	Military Cross

Award Circumstances and Date

Battle of Villers-Bretonneux, April 1918 - led his company in a night attack on 24/25 April, showing “fearless disregard of danger”.

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date	28 October 1919	Reason	Appointment terminated.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Clerk; accountant

Death

Date	31 July 1924	Age	36 years
Place of Death	At residence, Balwyn, Victoria
Cause	Effects of war service
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Boroondara Cemetery Kew, Melbourne
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials	Scotch College (Melbourne) World War I Honours

Biographical Notes

George Stewart Smith, known as Stewart, was born on 22 March 1888 at Timaru, the first born of the family of Anthony Adrian and Jeanie Stewart (née Gellatly) Smith. Two more children were born in New Zealand before the family moved to Victoria, Australia, where three sons were born, one dying young. George Stewart Smith enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on 9 April 1915 at Melbourne, Australia. He was 27 years old, a grain buyer, single and Presbyterian. His nominated next-of-kin was his father – Anthony Adrian Smith, 144 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Victoria. Stewart had served in the School Cadets (Scotch College) for two years.

In the famous battle of Villers-Bretonneux, in April 1918, Stewart earned the Military Cross. He had led his company in a night attack on 24/25 April, showing “fearless disregard of danger”. G. S. Smith commenced the return to Australia on board “Port Melbourne” on 5 July 1919. He disembarked at Melbourne on 29 August 1919. [Cenotaph Database].

The war career of Major George Stewart Smith was outstanding, but it took its toll. He died on 31 July 1924, at his home at Balwyn, Victoria, from the effects of his war service, and aged just 36 years. He was buried in Boroondara Cemetery, Kew, Melbourne. Two Melbourne-born brothers also served in World War I – Malcolm Carlyle Smith (8648) and Anthony Adrian Smith (39706).

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [30 March 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [14 April 2020]; The Scotch College World War I Honours and Awards Website, q.v. [14 April 2020]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

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