John Smale was born in 1885 and baptised the following year. He was the son of an agricultural labourer, Richard Smale, originally from Little Torrington, who had married Mary Ann Parr, born in Great Torrington.. At the time of the 1891 census, the family were resident at “Coombe”, near Great Torrington. The household was large; as well as John and his parents, he had 5 siblings all of whom were of school age or below. These, were James, 12, Sarah, 10, Ellen, 7, Bessie, 3 and Emily, 1. John was 6 years of age at this time. John’s grandparents, John and Ann Parr, were also resident with the household at the time and also worked as a general labourer. Presumably, ‘Coombe’ refers to ‘Coombe Barton’, which is closer to Roborough; as John Parr’s birth place was Roborough, too, this would seem to corroborate the location.

 

Ten years later to the next census information, we find John moved to a new residence and as a 14 year old (remember that dates were notoriously inaccurate in records at this time) working as a servant on a farm at Waggadon, near Huntshaw. His occupation is recorded as a ‘cattle lad’. The Farm is owned by John Isaac who resides with his wife, Emily, and their five children. In addition, there are two visitors, probably the owner’s parents, and a second servant, Thomas Braddon, working as a ‘carter’.

 

The final census information available from 1911 sees John moving again, this time to “Riccards Down”, near Abbotsham.  At the age of 25 we find him as a lodger with the Ley family working as a waggoner on the farm. The household consists of the head of household, John Ley, his wife, Mary and their four children.

 

John married Mary Jane Penny on 24th June 1914 at the Torrington Baptist Church [1]. It has not been possible to trace any children from the marriage. From the Grave Registration information, we can see that they were resident at 99 New Street, Great Torrington. Between this time and the commencement of his service, we also know that John was in the employment of local Great Torrington baker, Mr Luxton, for some years, according to a later newspaper article [2].

 

John Smale was enlisted to the 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. His enlistment place is recorded as Barnstaple and he carried the service number 30813. Although we have no record of his previous engagements , we know that he would have seen action at the Battle of Passchendaele, which we looked at earlier as part of the prolonged engagement that the 1st Devons fought in. Of course, the line of attack spanned many miles and the 2nd Devons were also involved in this offensive, albeit attached to another brigade with another objective. The first day of  Passchendaele saw the 1st Devons in action and, despite suffering mounting casualties as the day progressed after a particularly positive start, they were eventually checked by both artillery fire and their neighbouring brigades failing to keep pace. They were also thwarted by a communication to halt their advance that never reached them, which potentially perilously isolated them. At this point they dug in in their halted positions and saw the night out. Despite half-hearted German counter attacks the following day, till they were eventually relieved from the advanced position. With heavy losses they remained in the reserves for the following weeks.

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Terrible weather conditions over this time saw a stall in operations as the battlefield was turned into a quagmire and simply not conducive to any further advance and it wouldn’t be until the 16th that the assault would recommence. As gains had already been made in line with the objectives of the first day, the goal of this operation was the furthest most from the first day’s attack, which could not be achieved. Although part of the attack, the 2nd Devons followed in support of the main thrust. They were called into action in their supportive role, which eventually saw the assault peter out and the Division fall back to their original starting position.     

 

Although first being reported as being missing [3] in the 31st August edition of the Western Times, John’s official date of death is recorded as 16th August 1917. He is one of only two soldiers on the Torrington war memorial to have been awarded the Military Medal; the citation can be found in the London Gazette, dated 2nd November 1917. John’s name was also listed in The Workers’ Union Record as part of their Roll of Honour of members who lost their lives. Although his grave is unmarked, Private John Smale is remembered at the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium; the memorial bears the names of some 35,000 war dead.