Frederick & Stanley Smale

Lance Corporal Frederick Smale – Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 1^st Battalion
Private Stanley Smale – Welsh Regiment, 14^th Battalion

Family Background

Some families chose to commemorate their sons who fought in the First World War on family headstones. This is the case with the Smale family at St. Peter’s Church, Cockett.

The inscription on the headstone reads:

“ALSO OF LAN CORPL FREDERICK SMALE THEIR SON, WHO FELL IN ACTION AT YPRES, NOV. 7TH 1914, AGED 35 YEARS.

ALSO OF PTE. STANLEY SMALE THEIR SON WHO DIED OF WOUNDS RECEIVED AT MAMTEZ WOOD SEPT. 23RD 1916, AGED 22 YEARS.”

Frederick and Stanley were sons of John Smale and Susan Holmes, who married in 1875 in Braunton, Devon.

Frederick Smale

1891 Census

Frederick was born in 1880 in Braunton, Devon. By the 1891 Census, the Smale family was living in Cwmbwrla, Swansea. John, 39, was employed as a general labourer, while Susan was 38. Their children included William, 14, also a general labourer; Ellen, 11; Charles, 8; Emma, 5; Ernest, 3; and Arthur, 2. Frederick himself was 10 years old.

Attestation Papers

In January 1899, Frederick enlisted in the army and served in the South African War. He later married Susannah Jenkins in 1907.

1911 Census

By the 1911 Census, Frederick was living at 77 Pentregethin Road, Cwmbwrla with Susannah and their daughters Hannah, 3, and Margaret Ellen, 1. Also present in the household was Susannah’s father, Jenkin Jenkins, a 78-year-old widower employed as a general labourer. Frederick, then 31, was also working as a general labourer.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Frederick served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 1^st Battalion.

The 1^st Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers at Ypres

The 1^st Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers was part of the 7^th Brigade, 3^rd Division, one of the original units of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that landed in France in August 1914. They fought in the early battles of Mons, the Marne, and the Aisne, before moving north to Flanders during the First Battle of Ypres.

Frederick Smale 
Menin Gate Memorial
credit - findagrave

By early November 1914, the BEF was engaged in desperate fighting east of Ypres, facing repeated German assaults as they tried to break through the thinly held British lines. On 7^th November 1914, the 1st Battalion was heavily engaged near Zandvoorde and Gheluvelt, enduring severe shelling and infantry attacks. Casualties were high, and among those killed in action that day was Lance Corporal Frederick Smale.

He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, which honours thousands of soldiers who died in the Ypres Salient.

Stanley Smale

1901 Census

Stanley, the youngest of the brothers, was born in 1894 in Swansea. The 1901 Census records the family at 3 Mayfield Street, Swansea. John, 49, was working as a general labourer, while Susan, 48, managed the household. Their children included Charles, 17, employed in the tinplate industry; Emma, 15; Ernest, 13; Arthur, 12; and Stanley, then just 6 years old.

1911 Census

By the 1911 Census, the family was still at 3 Mayfield Street, Cwmbwrla. John, now 59, remained a general labourer, as did his son Ernest, 23. Arthur, 22, was employed in the steel industry, while Stanley, 16, was working as a helper at cold rolls in the tin works.

Stanley later enlisted in the 14^th Battalion, Welsh Regiment, one of the “Swansea Pals.” He fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, including the terrible fighting at Mametz Wood. Wounded in action, he was evacuated to St. Thomas’s Hospital, London, where he died of his injuries on 23^rd September 1916.

St. Peters church
Burial Register 

Stanley’s body was returned to Swansea for burial at St. Peter’s, Cockett. The burial register contains a note: “Buried under the Burial Amended Act of 1880.” This law had been introduced to allow funeral services in Church of England graveyards to be conducted by ministers of other denominations. In Wales, where Nonconformist congregations were strong, this provision was widely used. The note in the register indicates that Stanley’s funeral was officiated by a Nonconformist minister, reflecting both the religious diversity of Swansea and the family’s wishes.

St. Thomas’s Hospital, London, in the First World War

St. Thomas Hospital 

St. Thomas’s Hospital, standing opposite the Houses of Parliament on the south bank of the Thames, was one of London’s major civilian hospitals when war broke out. With the influx of wounded from the Western Front, its wards were rapidly adapted for military use. Hundreds of soldiers passed through its doors, many brought by hospital trains from the Channel ports and then ferried by ambulance to the hospital.

St. Thomas’s became particularly well known for the treatment of serious surgical cases, including gunshot and shrapnel wounds, and for its pioneering work in rehabilitation. The hospital’s proximity to Westminster also meant it was frequently visited by politicians and royalty, keen to show support for the wounded. Like many of London’s great hospitals, it stood as a symbol of both medical skill and the nation’s determination to care for its soldiers.

For Stanley Smale, gravely wounded at Mametz Wood, St. Thomas’s represented both hope and tragedy: despite the best medical care available in Britain at the time, his injuries proved fatal.

Legacy

The Smale family grave
St. Peters church
credit - findagrave

The Smale headstone at St. Peter’s stands as a poignant reminder of the cost of the First World War, marking the loss of two brothers within its first two years. Frederick, who fell at Ypres in November 1914, represents the early sacrifices of the British Expeditionary Force as it fought to hold the line in Flanders, while Stanley, who died from wounds received at Mametz Wood in September 1916, reflects the terrible losses endured by Swansea’s “Pals” battalion on the Somme. Together, their names, carved into their family grave, embody both the local and national grief of the Great War, ensuring that their service and sacrifice are not forgotten.