Issy Smith facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Issy Smith
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Issy Smith (left) attending an Anzac Day parade on 25 April 1927. On the right is Stanley Gibbs, recipient of the Albert Medal.
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| Born | c. 18 September 1890 Alexandria, Egypt |
| Died | 11 September 1940 (aged 49) Melbourne, Australia |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/ |
British Army |
| Years of service | 1904–1912 1914–1919 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Unit | 1st Battalion, The Manchester Regiment |
| Battles/wars | First World War |
| Awards | Victoria Cross Croix de Guerre (France) Cross of St. George (Russia) |
Issy Smith, VC (c. 18 September 1890 – 11 September 1940) was a British-Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), which is the highest award for gallantry in the Commonwealth and United Kingdom. He was also awarded the French Croix de Guerre and Russian Cross of St. George (4th class) by the respective governments.
Born Ishroulch Shmeilowitz (and other renderings), to parents residing in Egypt, Smith travelled to Britain as a child stowaway and first volunteered to serve in the British Army in 1904. He emigrated to Australia after discharge, where he remained until mobilised as a reservist in 1914. As a corporal in the 1st Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, Smith was engaged in the Second Battle of Ypres. On 26 April 1915, Smith, on his own initiative, recovered wounded soldiers while exposed to sustained fire and attended to them "with the greatest devotion to duty regardless of personal risk". His conduct secured a recommendation for the Victoria Cross, which was awarded to Smith in August 1915.
After his demobilisation, Smith returned to Australia with his wife and daughter. He became a prominent figure in Melbourne's Jewish community, was appointed a Justice of the Peace.
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Early life
Smith was born in Alexandria, the son of French citizens Moses and Eva Shmeilowitz, who were of Russian Jewish origin. His father was employed by the French Consulate-General as a clerk. Aged 11, Smith embarked as a stowaway aboard a vessel proceeding to London.
Smith attended Berner Street School, Commercial Street, and worked as a deliverer in the East End, then an impoverished ghetto where Yiddish was the predominant spoken language. Persecution and extreme deprivation had compelled millions of Eastern European Jews to migrate to Western Europe, the Americas, and elsewhere. By the time of Issy Smith's arrival, Jewish immigration to Britain had peaked but was curtailed by the enactment of the Aliens Act in 1905.
He joined the British Army in 1904, becoming a private in the Manchester Regiment. The pseudonym Issy Smith was adopted in the process of enlisting at the behest of a recruiting sergeant. Smith completed his training, serving in South Africa and India with the 1st Battalion. He boxed competitively, winning the British Army's middleweight championship, and played football. While in India, Smith was present at the Delhi Durbar parade, in which the 1st Manchesters participated, and was thus awarded the Delhi Durbar Medal.
Accepting his discharge in 1912, Smith emigrated to Australia after brief employment in London. He lived in the Melbourne suburb of Ascot Vale while working for the city's gas company. Retained as a reservist, Smith was mobilised by the British Army after the commencement of hostilities in August 1914.
World War I
Smith served in the 1st Manchester Regiment, which was actively engaged in the battles of Givenchy and Neuve Chapelle. The regiment suffered hundreds of casualties by the beginning of "Second Ypres" on 22 April 1915. Chemical warfare first emerged on the Western Front during the German offensive, and Smith himself would be temporarily incapacitated by gas.
During the Allied counter-attack, Smith, of his own volition, ventured towards a German position to attend to a severely wounded soldier. He carried him some 250 yards (230 m) to relative safety while exposed to intense German fire. According to the Victoria Cross citation, he brought in "many more wounded men" throughout the day under similarly perilous conditions "regardless of personal risk". Recounting his own rescue by Smith to a Daily Mail correspondent, Sergeant Rooke said of the corporal: "He behaved with wonderful coolness and presence of mind the whole time, and no man deserved a Victoria Cross more thoroughly than he did".
| No. 168 Acting Corporal Issy Smith, 1st Battalion, The Manchester Regiment. |
| For most conspicuous bravery on 26th April, 1915, near Ypres, when he left his Company on his own initiative and went well forward towards the enemy's position to assist a severely wounded man, whom he carried a distance of 250 yards into safety, whilst exposed the whole time to heavy machine-gun and rifle fire.
Subsequently Corporal Smith displayed great gallantry, when the casualties were very heavy, in voluntarily assisting to bring in many more wounded men throughout the day, and attending to them with the greatest devotion to duty regardless of personal risk. |
| The London Gazette, 20 August 1915 |
Smith was hospitalised in Dublin, Ireland, where he recuperated from his gassing. His Victoria Cross was later presented to him at Buckingham Palace by King George V. He was feted by publications such as The Jewish Chronicle, and his status as a recipient of the VC was utilised by the British government for the purposes of stimulating further recruitment.
His visits to Jewish communities in the United Kingdom generated much interest, attracting dignitaries and large crowds in the process. On one such occasion, in September 1915, he was invited back to his old school in the East End to receive a gold watch and chain in honour of his Victoria Cross from his former schoolmates. Also that month, Smith was received at Mansion House, Dublin, by the Under-Secretary for Ireland, Matthew Nathan.
Smith returned to active duty as a sergeant, serving in Mesopotamia and Palestine until the cessation of hostilities with the Ottoman Empire and Germany on 30 October and 11 November respectively. He had been wounded five times.
Demobilised after the war, Smith returned to London. As a war hero, he was intermittently invited to social functions. In June 1920, he attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace, given by the king for all surviving Victoria Cross recipients. They included veterans of the Indian Mutiny, Rorke's Drift, Relief of General Gordon, the First and Second Boer Wars, countless campaigns on the borders of the empire, and dozens from the Great War. In October 1921, with Harry Kenny, he unveiled the Hackney War Memorial. In 1922, he attended "The Pilgrimage to Ypres", in Belgium, laying a wreath at the Cloth Hall there.
Later years
Despite his fame and popularity, Smith struggled financially. This was aggravated by his declining health. Smith's varied occupations in post-war Britain included work as an actor with a theatre troupe. He emigrated to Australia in 1925 with his wife Elsie (née McKechnie), whom he had married at Camberwell Register Office. Marriage to Elsie produced two children (Olive and Maurice).
The family settled in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne. There he joined the Essendon sub branch of the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL). In 1928, he was appointed manager of British International Pictures in Melbourne, and then worked for Dunlop Rubber Company. His final job was with the Civil Aviation Board at Essendon Airport. Appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1930, Smith unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for the United Australia Party in the 1931 general election.
Death
Smith died of coronary thrombosis on 11 September 1940. He was buried in the Jewish section of Fawkner Cemetery with full military honours. His Victoria Cross was sold by his family in 1990 and later auctioned as part of a collection of Smith's medals, selling for approximately £30,000 (US$60,000).
Following representations from the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles announced in September 2013 that the plan to memorialise British-born First World War Victoria Cross medal holders by laying commemorative paving stones in their home towns would be extended to include Smith, who was born in Egypt.
