Father and Son in the 18th Battalion

Smith… What a name to have to research. If one goes to the LAC database and does a last name search for ‘Smith’ you get approximately 7,000 results. Impressive if you think of this last name as a percentage of all the Canadian troops that served overseas – about 1%.

I wonder how common, or rare, it would be to have a father and son serving in the same battalion? The 18th Battalion has one set discovered so far. It did happen such as the 54th Battalion CEF with a father and son serving together.

The father is Frederick Smith (53157) and James Smith (54170). Their names are listed in the 18th Battalion Nominal Roll (1915).

Frederick Smith (father) joined on October 23, 1914 in London, Ontario listing his wife, Emma Smith, as his next of kin residing on 305 Cheapside Street, London, Ontario. Frederick was 34 years old (dob 01/02/1880).

James (son) was attested January 25, 1915 and listed his father as his next of kin and it was notated that his mother lived at 305 Cheapside Street. James was 20 years old (dob 06/11/1894).

One could surmise that Jame was the stepson of Frederick because their ages are only 14 years apart. It is interesting to note that when Frederick Smith was drafted later in the war the records on that set of attestation papers show he was born in 1877 adding 3 years to his age. This attestation document further confuses things by listing another month of birth as December and no date.

Sadly, Frederick Smith was an early casualty of the war with “shell shock” per this scan from the Veterans of Southwest Ontario site. This fact is further attested on page 1 of the second set of attestation papers Pte. Frederick Smith had filled out when he was drafted.

Below are the attestation papers.