Norman Taylor SMITH (c.1895–1917)
Norman Taylor Smith was born in Aberdeen in 1895, the son of Robert Smith (born in Tarver, Aberdeenshire in c.1866) and Grace Ann Sutherland Taylor, born in St Nicholas’s parish, Aberdeen in c.1868). His parents were married in c.1889 and had two children, both born in Dee Village Road (St Nicholas’s parish), Aberdeen:
- Robert Taylor Smith (born on 22 March 1892)
- Norman Taylor Smith (born on 6 April.1895)
The family moved down to Oxford in the late 1890s and in 1899 Norman’s father Robert started work as Foreman of W. Lucy & Co., a job he was to hold for forty years.
By the time of the 1901 census the family were living at Christ Church New Buildings, St Thomas, Oxford with Robert (9) and Norman (5). Norman’s mother was described as the wife of an iron contractor, but his father was not at home on census night.
In about 1909 Norman’s parents moved to 55 Kingston Road in St Margaret’s parish, and both their sons went to work for Lucy’s. In the 1911 census Norman’s father is described as a foundry engineer and Norman (15) as an engineer’s pattern maker; Norman’s brother was not at home.
In the First World War Norman Smith served as a Serjeant in the 1st/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 1359). He was killed in action in France at the age of 21 on 23 July 1916, and is buried in the Pozières British Cemetery, Ovillers-La Boiselle (I.C.31). He is remembered on the war memorial outside St Margaret’s Church in north Oxford.
Norman’s older brother, Robert Taylor Smith joined the Royal Flying Corps as an Engineer/Blacksmith and was part of a mobile unit of blacksmiths who travelled around the battlefields repairing crashed aircraft and getting then back into action. He survived the war.
After the War
Norman’s parents
- Robert Smith retired from W. Lucy & Co. in 1939, and continued to be listed in Kelly’s Directory at 55 Kingston Road until 1952. Mrs Smith was listed in 1954 only.
Norman’s brother
- Robert Taylor Smith went back to Lucy’s after the First World War, and in 1939 went to work at the New Bodelian Library as the Head Engineer, where he looked after the heating systems and the conveyor belts that went between the Old and New Libraries. He retired in 1960, and was then living in Southmoor Road.
See also
- CWGC: SMITH, N.
- Postcard: Kingston Road in 1906 (No. 55, where Norman lived, was in the middle of the west side)
- Wikipedia: Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry