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Robert Wray Smith
D.C.M. MM. was
born in Reservoir Street in 1876 and was a man of some distinction.
His father, Thomas. had passed away when he was a young boy and was
reputed to be the only man to fall 90 fathoms down the pit shaft
into water and live to tell the tale. Few people in our district
appear to know that he was one of the founders of the Scout
movement. In 1916 Colonel R.S. Baden Powell wrote to Mr. Smith
congratulating him on his military success and thanking him for what
he had done in the early days of the Scout movement when he had
formed a troop of boys with the title B.P. Guides. When he was 9 or
10 years of age, he was taken and raised in Canada by his Uncle of
the same name, the Rev. Robert Wray Smith, a Wesley Methodist
preacher, who had lived at Bill Quay. He trained for the Methodist
Ministry himself but did not continue that career and returned home
in 1896. After a short time Wood, Skinners shipyard at Bill Quay he
again in 1900 he returned with a group of miners to the coalfields
of Virginia, USA. He did not settle and came back to the shipyards.
He had always wanted to be a doctor and began to study and practice
first aid. It is here he found his true vocation and he obtained all
the certificates and distinctions the St. Johns Ambulance Brigade
could award him.
When war was declared on July 14 1914 he volunteered his services
and, after four years had been promoted to Company Sergeant Major
and was awarded medals for Distinguished Conduct in the Field and
the Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to wounded
men while under fire.
After the war he found employment in charge of the First Aid Post
established at Follonsby Pit. He lived at
1 West Crescent
where he erected a large flagpole in the garden and flew the Union
Jack on special occasions. He helped organise the Junior Imperial
League which held its meetings at St. Aidan's and also represented
the Wardley people as a Progressive councillor between 1931-33 on
the Durham County Council. He died at his home in West Crescent in
May 1954.
More photographs below. |
| Below left: A family
friend who lived in Wardley, County Durham. I knew his daughter Lily
(a good friend of my mother's) who lived near us in Bill Quay (The
upstairs flat 2 Chesterwood Terrace), when I was a child, and this
postcard came from her. The writing on the back of the card is hard
to make out, but I think the horse is called Silver Patrol. There is
some good information elsewhere on the Net about his life and
career, especially notable that he like Baden Powell came up with
the idea of the Scouts. Here shown in the Legion of Frontiersmen.
: Dave Webster |
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The
memorial stone of Robert Wray Smith and his wife
Winifred vandalised. I am not sure whether this is the
actual grave site in 2007. A sad and forlorn sight. |
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Trooper
John Wray Smith. D.C.M. M.M. Legion Frontiersman & Scouter.
He was born in Reservoir Street in 1876 and died at his home
at No. 1 West Crescent, Wardley in May 1954. |
Lily Smith and Gladys Robson in Guides uniform. 1940
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Mrs. Winnie Smith (wife of Robert Wray Smith)
and Mary Moore in the garden of 1 West Crescent.
c1948. |
Winifred
Smith, his wife, with their daughter Lily. Winnie passed
away in April 1957 and Lily married a Polish gentleman Mr.
Gwozdowski, at Penrith on December 16 1954 |
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From a quarter
plate glass negative. Robert Wray Smith in a
home service parade uniform of the RAMC (Royal
Army Medical Corps) World War 1 period. Robert
was a good friend of my granddad Bob Short, who
took this photo. He was much decorated in the
first world war for his services in tending the
wounded, more can be found on him elsewhere in
my family album and also on the net as he went
on serving the community long after the war.
: Dave Webster |
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A good friend of my
grandad Robert Short, here in another variation of
the world war 1 Royal Army Medical Corps uniform.
Standing in the shell of a garden shed somewhere in
Pelaw or Bill Quay, Gateshead. Photo by Bob Short.
Photo: Dave Webster |
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Robert Wray Smith was
awarded the DCM, also MM and Bar, for his services in
the ambulance corps during World War 1.
: Dave Webster |
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On the right No. 1 West Crescent. Wardley.
Gateshead. September 2004 |
See also
www.wardleycolliery.com |