Royal Engineers, Pioneers, Road and Quarry Troops Depot, Service no. 43264
Born: 1869.
Story
Joseph’s army papers show that he claimed to have been born in the Parish of Kippax, and he stated he was 48½ years-old when he enlisted on 18th April 1918. At his medical assessment in Leeds on 22nd May 1918, he was classed as Grade III, which meant he was unsuitable for active front line service, so he joined up with the Royal Engineers on 30th May 1918. Joseph, who was 5 ft 10 inches tall, and was a General Labourer was discharged 27th August 1918, as being physically unfit. Although his general health was noted as fair, the Army described him as balding, with grey hair, and deaf. He had attacks of vertigo, complained of dizziness, was mentally deficient, and due to his deafness, it was impossible to wake him. After the War he moved to Halifax, and was deceased by the time his daughter Violet Gretchen Smith married in 1931. Joseph stated that he was married on 22nd December 1902, and had four children. The only baptism record found for a Joseph Smith of Kippax goes back to 3rd August 1848.
Below: Engineers during the First World War, laying Duckboards for the Front line troops:
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