KING’S CORPORAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 16 February 1935, Page 4

KING’S CORPORAL

DISCOVERED BY DUKE GEORGE EDWARD SMITH What must have been one of the last acts of the Duke of Gloucester before he left New Zealand was 'to dispatch a letter to George Edward' Smith, a lift attendant in' Wellington, whom the Duke discovered, merely by chance, had performed signal secret service for his country, and had had bestowed on him by the King one of the most coveted of military honours, that of King’s Corporal. As a result of a lifetime of service to his country Smith broke down in health some years ago when in England and returned to his native country with a pension from the King. Not being able to do heavy work lie accepted a job as liftman in Wellington, where he was bom some 57 years ago. Smith had a long talk with the Duke of Gloucester, on the occasion when they met, and modestly replying to the ’ Duke’s questions revealed that in his time he had been a member of .the British Secret Service, the Canadian North-West Mounted ■Police, and had seen service in the Boer War and Great War. Smith, as a young man. worked his passage home and joined the Twelfth Lancers, his father's regiment, and saw service in Africa, being at the Relief of Mafeking and the Battle of Modder River. Then he joined the North-West Mounted Police, In the Great War Smith was among the first to go, and was in the retreat from Mons. In describing his brother’s career, Mr Clarence Smith, of Nelson, also mentioned the fact that another brother Richard, had bis 50th birthday when in action on Gallipoli. There are ten members of the family which is now widely scattered, and the father, Mr Henry Smith, was an interpreter in the imperial Army, and saw action with the Peshawar Light Horse during the Indian Mutiny, at Virwee and Khyber Pass. He came to New Zealand in connection with railway matters, and owned property in Welling’ton. Mr Smith remarked that his brother received his first initiation into military affairs in D Battery in the Wellington Field Artillery. _ The rank of King’s C’prporal was a gift from the , King, and carried privileges and a pension with it. There were only seven , holders of the honour in the world.