Smeatham C Lt 1st Leicestershire Regiment
LIEUTENANT C. SMEAΤΗΜΑΝ
IST BATTALION THE LEICESTERSHIRE REGIMENT
CECIL SMEATHMAN was the third and youngest son of Lovel and Frances Smeathman, of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.
He entered the School in 1903, and won his Football Cap in 1907. He passed on to University College, Oxford, in 1908, and took his degree and entered the Army, as a University Candidate, in 1913.
He went to the Front in September, 1914, was wounded by shell in the trenches at Rue du Bois on October 23rd, and died in the Base Hospital at Bailleul on October 24th, 1914, on the same day that his elder brother, Lieut. J. M. Smeathman (O.R.), was killed. Age 25.
His Adjutant wrote:-
“He was an Officer whose loss is very much felt, not only professionally, for he was of exceptional capability, but also as a very great personal friend of us all.”
A brother Officer said:-
“He was one of the most popular Officers here, and is universally regretted by all of us who survived those four terrible days. His Platoon was terribly upset about him. I know they would have followed him anywhere.”
Source : Memorials Of Rugbeians Who Fell In The Great War Vol 1