William Spencer Smallwood
2nd Lieutenant
22nd Squadron Royal Flying Corps and General List.
Division 79 Extension
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William Smallwood died on 25th January 1918, aged 19. He was the son of William and Ellen Rebecca Smallwood, of Knaresborough Lodge, Alexandra Road, Reading. He is commemorated on the family grave. Number 16384. The inscription states that he was killed in action and interred at Lapugnoy Military Cemetery. The grave location is VIII. A. 13.
The site of Lapugnoy Military Cemetery was chosen in 1915 in preparation for the British offensive which took place in September around Loos. Further burials, in great number, took place in 1917 during the Battles of Arras. The dead were brought mainly from casualty clearing stations but in May and August 1918, fighting units used the cemetery.
The author does not known exactly what action William Smallwood was participating in when he was killed but in the days before his death and on the day he died there was a great deal of aircraft activity and bombing action in the Flanders and Northern France.
The 1911 census indicates that the family consisted of two sons and a daughter. It is believed that William’s brother lived into his eighties and may have spent some time in Canada or the USA.