1st Class Constable 400, Leslie John Smith, Whilst he was a native of Aldershot, Hampshire, at the time of his appointment into the Derbyshire Constabulary on March 1st 1913 the, 20 years old28 baker was living in Normanton, Derby. The young constable spent his first 6 months stationed in the small lead mining village of Castleton before moving to Whittington Moor, near Chesterfield. Constable Smith’s duties didn’t always go smoothly as a few days before Christmas he was caught out by his sergeant for missing two points and committed the ultimate sin by covering it up by making a false entry in his journal. For this misdemeanour he was reprimanded. He was serving at Edale in the Peak District when he was given permission and allowed to resign to enlist as Private 23596 into the 3rd Btn Grenadier Guards on March 31st 1915. The Guards Division were involved in the assault on Lesboeufs during the Somme Offensive and sometime between 14th - 17th September 1916 Private Smith was killed in action. He is remembered at V. H. 8. The Guards’ Cemetery, Lesboeufs, near Albert, France.

andrew picken