Second Lieutenant Herbert Smith

Second Lieutenant Herbert Shaw Smith, 1st/9th ( Highland ) Battalion, Royal Scots. He died in France, aged 19, from wounds suffered during the Battle of Arras on the 12th April 1917. He had been born in Edinburgh in 1897 and was the son of Patrick Smith ( Sheriff Substitute of Selkirkshire ) and Alice Smith of The Firs, Selkirk. He had enlisted in the Royal Scots as a Private and he was commissioned in October 1916. He joined his Battalion in France in January 1917 and he is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France where his Headstone is inscribed ” Blessed are the Pure In Heart”. His Battalion had been heavily involved on the opening days of the Battle from 9th April at Vimy Ridge and had had 9 Officers wounded. The Battalion was part of the 154th Brigade in the 51st ( Highland ) Division and after the War an impressive Memorial was raised in its commemoration. It was erected overlooking “Y” Ravine on the Somme where on the 13th November 12916 the Division had stormed the strong German positions in Beaumont Hamel. A Plaque on the Memorial reads in both English and Gaelic ” Friends Are Good On The Day Of Battle”. The photos show troops during the Battle.