SERVICE PERSON RESEARCH
SERVICE PERSON DETAILS
Service Person’s
Name
Herbert Cleveland Smith
Rank
Private
Service Number
343
Regiment/Unit or
Ship or Squadron
Date of Birth
15th Australian Infantry Battalion
January 1886
Place of Birth
Blair Athol, Queensland, Australia
Family Details
Son of Howard and Martha Lydia Smith, of Copperfield, Queensland
Age at Enlistment
28 years
Place of Enlistment Brisbane, Queensland
Date of Death
28 April 1915
Place of Death
Gallipoli, Turkey
Cemetery or
Memorial Name
Grave or
Memorial
Number
Quinn's Post Cemetery, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey
D. 12
PHOTO
Source: Tarrier, B 2015, Heroes All: Central Queenslanders who gave Their Lives Serving the Empire, Bronwyn Tarrier
Publisher 2005, page 147.
SERVICE PERSON’S STORY/EULOGY:
Prepared by Darcy Reynolds
On 22 September 1914, Herbert Cleveland Smith travelled to Brisbane to enlist in World War One, aged 28 years.
Herbert was born and grew up in Blair Athol, central Queensland. He was son to Howard and Martha Smith. Before
the war, he was an engine driver.
He was allocated to the 15th Infantry Battalion, given the service number of 343 and had Private status.
Herbert embarked on the HMAT Ceramic A40 from Melbourne on 22 December 1914.
It is understood that Herbert was a typical ‘Aussie larrikin’. Even before he embarked, Herbert had already been in
trouble with military law. During army training in Broadmeadows, Melbourne, Victoria, he was twice charged with
being absent without leave and once charged with neglect of duty.
When he arrived overseas in Cairo, Egypt, he was charged multiple times for disobeying battalion orders and for
being absent, as well as breaking camp rules and relieving himself during a march.
After training in Cairo, the 15th Battalion set sail for the Dardanelles, and ended up on the beaches of Gallipoli on the
dawn of 25 April 1915. Herbert was killed only a few days after the Gallipoli landing, on 28 April 1915, aged 29 years
old.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Australian War Memorial 2015, Roll of Honour: Herbert Cleveland Smith,
https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1661493/ (accessed 28 February 2015)
Australian War Memorial 2015, First World Embarkation Roles: Herbert Cleveland Smith,
https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1753782/ (accessed 28 February 2015)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission 2015, Casualty Details: Smith, Herbert Cleveland,
http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/604620/SMITH,%20HERBERT%20CLEVELAND
(accessed 28 February 2015)
National Archives of Australia 2015, Smith Herbert Cleveland: SERN 343
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1781544
(accessed 28 February 2015)
Tarrier, B 2015, Heroes All: Central Queenslanders who Gave Their Lives Serving the Empire, Bronwyn Tarrier
Publisher 2005,