Thomas Smith
Born 17 Oct 1885 - Died 12 Oct 1917
- Service number
- WWI 25/1818 AWMM
- Also known as
- —
- Last rank
- Sergeant AWMM New Zealand Machine Gun Corps AWMM
- War
Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- 17 Oct 1885 AWMM
- Date of birth
- —
- Place of birth
- Gosport, Alverstoke district, county of HampshirePublic - Keith - Researcher - 26 July 2026 - Free BMD
Births 4Q 1885
Alverstoke Registration District
Volume 2b page 554
Thomas Smith - Birth notes
- —
- Address before enlistment
- Pre 29 Nov 1915 AWMM Highland House, Oxford Street, Lyttleton, New Zealand AWMM
- 2 April 1911
Sailors' Lodging Home, 51 To 57 Oxford Street, St Mary parish, Southampton, Hampshire, England, United KingdomPublic - Keith - Researcher - 26 July 2026 - 1911 England & Wales census
Archive series RG 14/5983
- Post war occupation
- —
- Next of kin
- Mrs T. Smith (mother), 6 Havant Street, Portsea, Plymouth, England AWMM
- Mrs Catherine Smith (widowed mother), 60 Havant Street, Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire, Great Britain
Mr John Smith (deceased, 1839–1901)Public - Keith - Researcher - 26 July 2026 - Ancestry family tree profile
- Relationship status
- —
Wars and conflicts
- War
- Campaign
- 1914-1919 AWMM Western Front AWMM
- 1917 AWMM Passchendaele AWMM
- Service number
- WWI 25/1818 AWMM
- Military service
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
- —
Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
Training and Enlistment
- Military training
- —
- Branch Trade Proficiency
- —
- Enlistment
- WW1 29 Nov 1915 AWMM
Age 30 AWMM
Seaman AWMM - Age on enlistment
- —
- Occupation before enlistment
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Embarkations
- Embarkation details
- WW1 01 Apr 1916 AWMM
HMNZT 49 or HMNZT 50 AWMM Vessel was Tahiti or Maunganui AWMM Corporal/Military AWMM 2nd Reinforcements 3rd Battalion, G Company AWMM New Zealand Rifle Brigade AWMM
Prisoner of war
- Capture details
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- Days interned
- —
- Liberation date
- —
- POW liberation details
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- Liberation Repatriation
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- POW serial number
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Medical history
- Medical notes
- Height, Unknown Period AWMM
5 foot 10 inches AWMM - Weight, Unknown Period AWMM
170 pounds AWMM - Tattoos, Unknown Period AWMM
tattooed both forearms AWMM - Complexion, Unknown Period AWMM
dark AWMM - Eye colour, Unknown Period AWMM
Grey AWMM - Hospital Diseases , Wounds, WWI AWMM
September 1915, wounded right arm AWMM - Killed in Action, Cause of Death AWMM
- Brittania tattooed on right forearm. Union flag on left forearm.Public - Keith - Researcher - 7 June 2021 - .
Royal Navy Register of Seaman's Services
Archive Reference: ADM 188/394/223657
- Height, Unknown Period AWMM
Last known rank
- Last rank
- Sergeant AWMM
New Zealand Machine Gun Corps AWMM - Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- Son of John and Catherine Smith, of 64, Abingdon Rd., Southsea, England
Served 8 years with the Royal Navy as a seaman and torpedoman
Described on his medical as "a very suitable man".
New Zealand Defence Force historians and volunteer researchers have identified the graves of Sergeant Thomas Smith and Corporal Thomas Nigel McFarland, both of the New Zealand Machine Gun Corps, who were killed on 12 October 1917 during the Battle of Passchendaele—New Zealand’s costliest day of combat in World War I.
Archival evidence from Archives New Zealand, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and NZDF records confirmed their identities through rank, corps insignia, and burial locations at Tyne Cot Cemetery and Passchendaele New British Cemetery in Belgium.
Both men’s graves will receive new headstones bearing their names, and descendants are being sought to share the findings before the official updates.
He was born in Gosport, to Irish parents. His step-brother was born in 1869, and was one of the civilian dead of WW2. The family appear on the 1891 census, living at 20 Park Street, Forton, Alverstoke, Hampshire. At some point they moved across Portsmouth Harbour. By the time of the 1901 census, his mother was widowed, and living at 38, Cumberland Street, Portsea, Portsmouth. In 1911, she was living at 60 Havant Street, Portsea, Portsmouth. AWMM
About death
- Death
- 12 Oct 1917 AWMM
- Date of death
- —
- Age at death
- —
- Place of death
- —
- Cause of death
- Killed in Action AWMM
- Death notes
- —
- Cemetery
- —
- Cemetery name
- —
- Grave reference
- —
- Obituary
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- Memorial name
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- Memorial reference
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Memorial
- Memorial name
- Tyne Cot Memorial, Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium AWMM
Sources
- External links
- Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R7819369
Further Reference - A Street Near You record
https://astreetnearyou.org/person/848193/-
Further Reference - Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/848193
Further Reference - 1News Reporters. (2025, October 10). Soldiers killed in WWI finally identified – hunt underway for families. TVNZ 1News.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/10/10/soldiers-killed-in-wwi-finally-identified-hunt-underway-for-families/
Further Reference - Daly, M. (2025, October 10). Graves of two NZ soldiers killed on ‘blackest day’ identified. Stuff.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360851084/graves-two-nz-soldiers-killed-blackest-day-identified
Further Reference - New Zealand Army (10 October 2025), Search begins for families of recently identified First World War casualties
https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/army/army-news/search-begins-for-families-of-recently-identified-first-world-war-casualties/
Further Reference - New Zealand War Graves Trust
https://www.nzwargraves.org.nz/
Further Reference - Militia attestation 1902
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM%2FWO96%2F651%2F1376282Public - Keith - Researcher - 26 July 2026 - Service number: 69
Regiment: Hampshire Regiment
Unit: 3rd (Militia) Battalion
Attestation date: 28 Feb 1902
Attestation age years: 19
Attestation age months: 2
Archive reference: WO 96/651
He attended the annual training camp from 9 June 1902 to 5 July 1902.
He failed to attend the 1903 annual training camp and was therefore struck off the strength
Next of Kin: widowed mother Catherine, 38 Cumberland Street, Portsea (on 1901 census)
[Step] Brother: Edward Cotter, Royal Navy [born 1869] - Navy Register of Seaman's Services 1901
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6792098Public - Keith - Researcher - 26 July 2026 - Reference:ADM 188/545/359133
Description:
NameSmith, Thomas
Official Number:359133
Place of Birth:Gosport, Hampshire
Date of Birth:17 December 1882
Enlistment Date: 10 Jan 1901
Discharge Date: 4 Dec 1901
Rating: Domestic 3rd Class, non-continuous service
Ship: HMS Majestic - Ancestry family tree profile: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/30030957/person/252718728292/factsPublic - Keith - Researcher - 26 July 2026
- Free BMD
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/Public - Keith - Researcher - 7 June 2021 - .
Births 4Q 1885
Alverstoke Registration District
Volume 2b page 554
Thomas Smith - Royal Navy Register of Seaman's Services
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6726644Public - Keith - Researcher - 7 June 2021 - Reference:ADM 188/394/223657
Description:
NameSmith, Thomas
Official Number:223657
Place of Birth:Gosport, Hampshire
Date of Birth:17 January 1885
Enlistment Date: 31 October 1902
Discharge Date: 02 October 1910
- Military personnel file
- References
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1917). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
27: 8 - Luxford, J. (1923). With the machine gunners in France and Palestine. Auckland, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs.
- Austin, W. (1924). The official history of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade (The Earl of Liverpool's Own). Wellington, N.Z.: L T Watkins.
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1917). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force Volume II. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
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