Can you help us identify PK?

We thank David Smith and Trevor Bassett for their family input for Percy’s story and to ‘cherlyjg’, for her research into PK’s war from “Fighting the Kaiser – Coburg, Brunswick and the First World War”, a series of stories of Coburg’s involvement in the War. https://fightingthekaiser.blogspot.com/2013/10/digger-smith-at-fromelles_24.html

Percival Kerrison Smith (“PK” as known to his friends in the 29th Battalion) was born on 17 March, 1894 in Coburg, Victoria. He was the third child and only son of Arthur Edward Smith and Mary Ann Teresa (nee Hunt). His sisters were Lillian, Lina and Vera. Arthur was an accountant. Unfortunately, Percy’s mother died when he was only three, leaving his father to raise the family. The Smiths were an established Coburg family. Percy’s grandfather, John Francis Smith, and grandmother, Henrietta Pettitt, had arrived from England in the mid-1850s. They married at Williamstown in 1857 and in 1861 settled to what was then known as Pentridge, now Coburg, where John Francis worked as a warder at the Pentridge Stockade.

Percy’s family lived at 24 Rodda Street, Coburg. His father lived there until he passed away. Lillian moved away after she married, but she returned for the duration of the war after her husband Frederick Larter had enlisted in March 1916. Vera never married and lived at the family home for most of her life. After his schooling, Percy became a rural worker and was employed by Richard Bassett in his orchard at Doreen, just north of Melbourne. Apparently, Percy had been advised by his doctor to seek employment in the country for health reasons (unknown). It was through Percy that his sister Lina had met one of Richard Bassett’s eight sons – Francis Harold Bassett.

 Harold and Lina were married in 1918 and lived on the orchard/farm until their deaths in 1970 and 1983, respectively. Lina’s grandson, Trevor Bassett, advised that Lina knew that Percy enjoyed working at the orchard and his time with the Bassett family. Further, the Bassett’s had said he was a very good worker and fitted in well to “life on the land”. A studio photo of Percy had always hung in Lina’s house.

At 21, PK answered the Call to War, enlisting on 5 July 1915. The 29th Battalion was raised at Broadmeadows Camp in Victoria on 10 August 191 and PK was assigned to A Company. Coburg was well represented in the 29th. A mate of PK’s, Private Jack Caird (15) was an 18 year old brass moulder who lived with his widowed mother in Sydney Road, Coburg. Jack was wounded on the same day that PK was killed, but he survived the war.

Francis Woodcock (1262) was also a local from Coburg who lost his life at Fromelles. Frederick John Sherlock (406), William Charles Thomson (408), Alfred Williams (411) were all in PK’s A Company; George Barrie (477) and Frederick Fletcher (736) in B Company; and John Arthur Mether (1184) in D Company. All of them returned from the war, although George Barrie lost his leg. Following a brief period of military training, the 29th left Australia on 10 November, 1915 aboard the troopship A11 Ascanius , headed for Egypt. Before departing, the soldiers had been on parade in Melbourne in front of a good crowd.

The Minister for Defence, H.F. Pearce, reviewed the troops and said:

PK arrived in Egypt on 7 December 1915 and began further training and conditioning. He obviously performed well and was promoted to Corporal on 10 March.

Training and defence of the Suez Canal continued until mid-June with postings at Ismailia, Tel el Kebir, Ferry Post and Moascar. The troops were reviewed by the Prince of Wales while in Tel el Kebir.

The call to the Western front came and on 16 June, the 29th boarded the troopship Tunisian in Alexandria, headed to Marseilles, arriving there on the 23rd. They then were on a train to Hazebrouck then to Steenbeque and by the 26th were encamped in Morbecque, about 30 km from Fleurbaix. The Aussies were well received by the French. In a letter home, a fellow soldier from Glengarry, Victoria, James Lang (858), wrote:

The 29th moved back to Hazebrouck on 1 July. Gas masks were included in their training for the possible use of “lachrymatory shells” – tear gas. Training was tough and rugged. One day included a march of 16 miles carrying a 75 lb kit, which only the youngest and fittest could complete. On 9 July they were moved to Erquingham, just outside of Fleurbaix and on the 10th they got their first experience in the trenches with the “men all in good spirits”.

Source AWM4 23/46/12 29th Infantry Battalion July 1916 page 3

They were back at their billets in Fleurbaix four days later. A gas alarm was sounded on the 15th, but there was no effect on the troops in Fleurbaix.

The 29th’s role in the battle was to be a ‘fourth’ battalion on the left flank of the attack. They and the 30th were to provide support for the attacking 31st and 32nd Battalions by digging trenches, carrying supplies/ammunition and to be called in as reserves if needed for the fighting. The original attack was planned for the 17th, but bad weather caused it to be postponed. On 19 July the 29th were in the rear trenches, ready for the attack. The 32nd’s charge over the parapet began at 5.53 PM and the 31st’s at 5.58 PM.

There were machine guns emplacements to their left and directly ahead at Delrangre Farm and there was heavy artillery fire in No-Man’s-Land. The initial assaults were successful and by 6.30 PM the Aussies were in control of the German’s 1st line system, which was described as “practically a ditch with from 1 to 2 feet of mud and slush at the bottom”.

Source AWM4 23/49/12, 32nd Battalion War Diaries, July 1916, page 11

By 8.00 PM, PK’s A Company and D Company began to carry bombs and supplies to the front trenches. The Australians’ left flank had come under heavy bombardment with high explosives and shrapnel. Return bombardment support was provided and the 32nd was told “the trenches were to be held at all costs”.

Source AWM4 23/49/12, 32nd Battalion War Diaries, July 1916, page 12

At 10.00 PM, additional support was being requested and C and D Companies joined in. Unfortunately, they found that a number of the grenades they were carrying had no fuses. The Germans counterattacked and at 2.00 AM and PK’s A Company and D Company were drawn into the fighting. B and C Companies continued to carry supplies and providing cover for soldiers who were retiring from the battle.With A Company now directly engaged, it may have been around this time that PK was killed, as E. Wait (352) reported that:

With the confusion of the battle, accurate reports were difficult, but news travelled fast amongst the soldiers. His friend Jack Caird reported.

While Percy would have been initially recorded as ‘missing’ by the Army until they could research all outcomes, in September an unidentified friend, wrote (on letterhead with Percy’s Coburg address), leaving no doubt about Percy’s fate.

Fighting continued through the night. At 4.00 AM the Germans began an attack from the Australian’s left flank, bombing and advancing into the communications trench. Given the Australian advances that had been made earlier, portions of the rearward trench had been left almost empty, which then enabled the Germans to be in a position to surround the advanced soldiers. As the Australian attack had been halted, they became exposed in a salient jutting into the German lines and were quickly enfiladed by German machine guns. “In the end, they basically had to fight their way back to their own lines, 'run for it', or be killed wounded or captured.”

Source 29th Battalion VWMA https://vwma.org.au/explore/units/111

In the morning the battle was over. The 29th were left to hold the front line and, even though a cease fire was not in effect, were busily bringing back a large number of wounded during the day and night. The nature of this battle was summed up by Private Jim Cleworth (784) from the 29th:

For a battalion supposed to be in a support role, the initial figures of the impact of the battle on the 29th was 17 soldiers died, 161 were wounded and 68 were missing. Ultimately, 66 soldiers of the 29th Battalion were killed in action or died of wounds from the battle and 37 of them were unable to be identified.

It was the task of Reverend Newton of Coburg’s Holy Trinity Church to break the news of Percy’s death to his father. Percy’s Battalion Chaplin S.A. Beveridge passed on a heartfelt letter (below) to Rev. Newton. He obviously had known Percy and spoke highly of him. While the letter was written about Percy, it is a reminder that many, many young men died and many ministers of religion had the unenviable task of breaking the news to the families. In cases where no body was found, the task must have been doubly difficult.

The letter did create a stir in the Army, however, as Percy was officially only ‘missing’ and, while seemingly unnecessary for this case, a retraction about being killed had to be issued, while the Army undertook their investigations. It was not until August 1917 that Percy was formally recognized as having been killed on 20 July. I am sure the family was appreciative of the honesty of Chaplin Beveridge’s early letter.

Percival Kerrison Smith is remembered with honour and commemorated at the following:

Percy’s father continued to live at 24 Rodda Street, Coburg. until his death in 1946 and his sister Veronica (Vera) was there until her death in 1984. A 120 year family connection with Coburg with much of it at 24 Rodda Street.

Curiously, there is an undated entry in Percy’s Army file about being buried in the vicinity of Fleurbaix. Such a reference is in a number of soldiers’ files and it may just reflect the reality of a possible battlefield grave, but…

The Germans recovered the bodies of 250 Australian soldiers from the battlefield and placed them in a mass grave at Pheasant Wood near where the 29th would have been fighting. This grave was not discovered until 2008. The Germans also kept a ‘Death List’ for Allied soldiers they recovered (but not all of them). Percy was not on this list. As of 2024, identifications of 180 of the soldiers have been able to be made from DNA matching from contributions from family members.

This includes 22 of the 37 unidentified soldiers from the 29th Battalion. Percy’s relatives have been found and did donate DNA. David Beal, Percy’s great nephew said:

Unfortunately, the initial outcome did not result in a conclusive match and both additional male and female DNA donors are still being sought.