Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Albert Robert Cyril Smart, known as Bert, was born on 27 March 1894 at Winslow, Canterbury, the youngest son of James and Elizabeth Rannie (née Fulton) Smart. His father James Smart – “a devoted husband and a kind and indulgent father” - was a railways employee and in September 1901, he received notice of transfer and promotion from Winslow Station to the Orari Station as station master. He was elected to the Orari South School committee and contributed much to the local community. In July 1906 when his transfer to Culverden was notified, the Orari settlers got up a petition to keep him at Orari. In September, however, a presentation from Orari folk was forwarded to Culverden. Late in 1908 he was transferred from Culverden to Lumsden in Southland. It was in 1913 that Mr and Mrs Smart moved to Invercargill, his position at Lumsden having been subject to dismissal, perhaps unfairly. In late May 1913, the residents of Lumsden presented him “with a well-filled purse of sovereigns on the occasion of severing his connection with the Railway Department”. Mr Smart transferred to the goods shed department in Invercargill.

Bert probably started his schooling at Winslow, then continued at Orari School from late 1901. He was rewarded for second place in Standard IV at Orari School in February 1905. Albert transferred to Culverden School in July 1908 when the family moved there, and then to Lumsden District High School in 1908 when the family again moved. Albert Robert Cyril Smart enlisted on the outbreak of war – on 11 August 1914 at Invercargill. He was a very enthusiastic member of the Territorials. A carpenter, single and Presbyterian, he was living at home and named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs James Smart, 270 Ettrick Street, Invercargill. While the southern troops were in camp at Tahuna Park, Dunedin, he was promoted sergeant. Sergeant A. R. C. Smart embarked with the Otago Infantry Battalion of the Main Body, departing from Port Chalmers, Dunedin, for Suez, Egypt, on 16 October 1914.

Sergeant A. R. C. Smart suffered a slight gunshot wound to his left leg on 9 August 1915 at Suvla Bay and was admitted to the 15th General Hospital at Alexandria. A Southland letter-writer noted in October that he was progressing well at Alexandria. He made a good recovery and returned to duty in the middle of January 1916. As of February 1916, Sergeant Bert Smart (Southland) was progressing well. In April 1916, he was promoted to the position of Regimental Sergeant-major in a new battalion that had been formed in Egypt. By this time his brother Len was at the front and his brother Mort was in camp at Featherston. His excellent services as a soldier won him his commission. In France by June 1916, Sergeant A. R. Smart was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and was attached in his new capacity to the 15th North Auckland Company, 1st Battalion Auckland Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade N.Z.E.F.

Lieutenant A. R. C. Smart was again wounded, on 2 July 1916 in the North of France possibly when he was with a trench mortar battery in the trenches. A Southland soldier wrote that A. R. C. Smart was keeping well and fit. When his brother Len was wounded in September 1916, all three Smart brothers were serving at the Front. Lieut. A. R. C. Smart was again wounded in France - on 12th June 1917, this being the third occasion. He had been stationed at Codford, England, for the last nine months since last being wounded, and only went to France on the 1st June, so must have met with this misfortune immediately after his arrival there. At about the same time his father, Mr J. Smart received a cable stating that another son. Private G. L. Smart, who left with the 11th Reinforcements, “was suffering from shell shock, this being the second occasion he had been on the casualty list. A third son of Mr Smart’s [James Morton Smart], who is also in the firing line, has evidently come through the latest big offensive all right.” The advice received in late December 1917 was that Lieutenant Bert Smart was returning to New Zealand on duty. Embarking at Plymouth on 10 January 1918 per the ”Arawa”, he reached Lyttelton on 7 March 1918, having seen service through all the great engagements, being twice wounded and once gassed. His two brothers were then both at the front, and both reported well. A. R. C. Smart was discharged on 1 January 1919 after more than four years of service and was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Albert Robert Cyril Smart married Beryl Myee Carter at First Church, Invercargill on 8 January 1923. Bert and Beryl lived in Invercargill for many years, he employed as a salesman. Their son, Sydney Carter Smart was born in 1926. Anzac Day 1932, the seventeenth anniversary of the landing on the inhospitable shores of Gallipoli, was commemorated throughout Southland by impressive services. At the principle service at the Civic Theatre, the audience stood as the escort party under Lieut. A. C. Smart entered the theatre at the slow march with arms reversed and took up their position in front of the orchestral well. Returned Soldiers’ Association escort, under Lieutenant A. R. C. Smart, and ten other ranks, formed up at the showgrounds and marched in the parade through the streets. Lieutenant A. R. C. Smart was alo drum-major in the local regimental band. In World War Two, Major A. R. C. Smart (Invercargill) served in the Pacific and on is return in late 1943 he was a patient at the Christchurch Hospital.

In the mid-1940s the family moved to Auckland. Bert died there on 3 February 1968, aged 73 years, and was cremated at Purewa. Dying on 1 August 1981, Beryl too, was cremated at Purewa. James Smart senior who had died on 28 August 1921 at his Invercargill residence and Elizabeth Rannie Smart who died on 21 November 1934, were buried in the Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill. Both Bert’s brothers – James Morton Smart (Morton, Mort) and George Leonard Smart (Len) served in World War One, Morton dying at the young age of 42. In early June 1916, a Roll of Honour was unveiled at a concert in the Orari Hall. On the list were the names of 38 Orari men who were once residents of the district and had gone to the war, including A. Smart, L. Smart and R. Smart. The Orari Patriotic Committee “thought it right to honour without distinction these men, each one of whom had faced his duty, not knowing what was before him.” At the close of the concert, supper was provided, after which the hall was cleared for dancing. The brothers (A. Smart, L. Smart and M. Smart) and more than sixty others are remembered on the Orari Roll of Honour 1914-1918 which is displayed in the Orari Hall.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [15 November 2023]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [15 November 2023]; School Admission record (Canterbury Branch NZSG) [November 2023]; Temuka Leader, 21 September 1901, 7 February 1905, 31 July 1906, Timaru Herald, 26 July 1906, 26 September 1906, 7 June 1916, Otago Witness, 18 August 1915, 26 July 1916, 26 December 1917, 6 September 1921, Southern Cross, 23 October 1915, Southland Times, 8 February 1916, 27 April 1916, 23 June 1916, 15 July 1916, 11 August 1916, 22 June 1917, 7 March 1918, 29 & 30 August 1921, 13 January 1923, 26 April 1932, 22 November 1934, Lyttelton Times, 12 June 1916, Press, 3 January 1944 (Papers Past) [12, 20 & 21 November 2023]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au – part search) [November 2023]; Purewa Crematorium record [November 2023]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file
• Other military personnel file

Related Documents

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Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.