Additional Information:  Son of Robert and Betsy Smith, of Warriston, Currie, Midlothian; husband of Jessie Smith (nee Prentice) of 80, Brunsbane Rd., Joppa, Midlothian

Cemetery:  GOUZEAUCOURT NEW BRITISH CEMETERY, Nord, France
Grave Reference/Panel Number:  I. F. 3.
 
Historical Information: The village was captured by the 8th Division on the night of the 12th-13th April 1917. It was lost on the 30th November 1917, in the German counterattack at the end of the Battle of Cambrai, and recaptured the same day by the 1st Irish Guards. It was lost again on the 22nd March 1918, attacked by the 38th (Welsh) Division on the following 18th September, and finally retaken by the 21st Division on the 8th October. It was later "adopted" by the City of Worcester. The cemetery was begun in November 1917, taken over by the Germans in 1918, and used again by the British in September and October 1918; but the original burials (now in Plot III) are only 55 in number. It was enlarged after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from other cemeteries and from the battlefield of Cambrai. There are now over 1,000, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site.

CWGC website

2nd Lieut Thomas L Smith, of the Ayrshire Yeomanry (attached Machine Gun Corps) was killed in action on Friday, 20th September. The sad news was conveyed to Mrs Smith, Colgin, West Calder, in a telegram from headquarters, followed by a letter from the chaplain expressing his sympathy.

Lieut Smith was a Sergeant in the lanarkshire Yeomanry at the outbreak of the war, and mobilised with them. For a considerable time he was engaged on coast defence, after which he received a commission in the Ayrshire Yeomanry.

Midlothian Advertiser, October 4th, 1918