Private Frank Smith
187705 8th Battalion Canadian Army
Killed in Action 22nd March 1918, aged 33
Formerly lived on Gannow Lane
Buried in Hersin Communal Cemetery Extension, France

"He was married to my grandmothers sister Nancy Walton and they emigrated to Canada in 1911/12
She died in 1912 in Winnipeg where Frank was working as a 'porter' for Canadian Pacific; Frank remarried his second wife was possibly Mary Hannah but we have no further details though there is a story of an RCAF guy looking the family up in WWII
Frank visited family in Burnley when he came back with the Army and left a unit badge with my Aunt Edith who was in her early teens and apparently quite taken with him - the Badge which I now have was for the Winnipeg Rifles
Edith though only a mill worker apparently visited Frank's grave in the late forties which must have been quite an undertaking"

His mother -in-law Mrs HM Walton would have been my Great Grandmother Hannah Walton (nee Stringer) and as such mother of Frank's first wife my Great Aunt Nancy, I assume the wife and child referred to would be his second wife and their child - as far as I know he and Nancy had no children

Could this have been the mystery RCAF man of WWII ????

(Information courtesy of Colin M Crossley)

Burnley Express 3/4/1918 (P)

Son-in-law of Mrs H M Walton of 96 Padiham Road.Married 1 child,emigrated to Canada 1910 and joined the army early 1916 then drafted to England and F&F August 1916 and was killed by a German bomb 22/3/18.

His friend the Chaplain wrote to his wife.

Former Bar-Man Tim Bobbin Inn