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Auction: 17001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 201

(x) A poignant family group to riflemen brothers:

Three: 2nd Lieutenant L. L. de B. Smith, The Rifle Brigade, who, having been severely wounded at Ypres in May 1915, was killed in a motor cycle accident in September 1916

1914-15 Star (2 Lieut. L. L. de B. Smith, Rif. Brig.); British War Medal 1914-20, erased naming; Victory Medal 1914-19 (2 Lieut. L. L. de B. Smith), the last with card box of issue, together with a Royal Humane Society's Proficiency in Swimming Medal, silver, engraved in obverse exergue, 'Charterhouse School, 1911' and named around edge, 'L. L. de Berniere Smith', in its Elkington & Co. fitted case of issue, Lundsberg School, Sweden, prize medal, bronze, and portrait miniature in glazed, oval gold-plated frame, good very fine and better

Three: Lieutenant M. de B. Smith, King's Royal Rifle Corps, who was severely wounded at Hooge in July 1915

1914-15 Star (Lieut. M. de B. Smith, K.R. Rif. C.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. M. de B. Smith), mounted as worn, together with a K.R.R.C. badge and a coloured-portrait photograph in gilt oval frame, with brooch-pin, very fine (Lot)

Lothrop Lewis de Berniere Smith was born at Regent's Park, London on 24 August 1893, the son of American parents, Johnson Mallett de Berniere Smith, who was born at New Orleans in March 1856, and Margaret Zoe Smith, who was born in New York in November 1852.

Educated at Charterhouse and Magdalen College, Oxford, Lothrop was commissioned in the 6th (Reserve) Battalion, The Rifle Brigade, in August 1914, direct from the O.T.C. Embarked for France in January 1915, he joined 'A' Company of the 1st Battalion and was severely wounded by a shell fragment in his left thorax at Ypres on 3 May. He was admitted to 7th Stationary Hospital in Boulogne and thence to Sussex Lodge Hospital at Regent's Park, London.

Having then been released for light duties at Sheerness, he was killed in a motor cycle accident in September 1916, when he sustained a fractured skull after colliding with a taxi cab. He was buried at Leysdown (St. Clement) Church on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent; sold with original War Office campaign medal forwarding letter, issuance slip for Princess Mary's Xmas 1914 tin, a portrait photograph and a file of copied research.

Mallett de Berniere Smith was born at St. Pancreas, London on 31 May 1886, the second son of American parents, Johnson Mallett de Berniere Smith, who was born at New Orleans in March 1856, and Margaret Zoe Smith, who was born in New York in November 1852.

Educated at Marlborough and Keble College, Oxford, Mallett was commissioned in the King's Royal Rifle Corps in August 1914, direct from the O.T.C. Embarked for France in the 8th (Service) Battalion in June 1915, he was severely wounded at Hooge on 30 July and evacuated to England aboard the S.S. Dieppe in the following month.

He saw no further action, being employed as Recruiting Officer in Surrey and Kent for the remainder of the war. He resigned his commission as a Lieutenant in February 1919 and died at Bath, Somerset, on 25 September 1973, aged 87 years; sold with a file of copied research.



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£320