Editing Issy Smith (section)

==World War I==
Given that he was retained as a [[reservist]] until 1 September 1916, for the remainder of his 12 year engagement, Smith was mobilised by the British Army after the commencement of hostilities in August 1914. Some contemporary newspaper articles sources state that Smith was present at the capture of [[German New Guinea]] by the [[Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force]].{{efn|''''V.C. hero from Australia''' The Daily Mail says: - Acting Corporal Issy Smith V.C. was a reservist of the 1st [Battalion] Manchester Regiment living n Australia when the war broke out. With an Australian force he assisted in the capture of German New Guinea.'<ref name="DDEIssySmith"/>}}<ref name="DundeeIssySmith">{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000563%2F19150825&page=3&article=050 |url-access=subscription |title=Rescued a sergeant. V.C. hero from Australia |newspaper=Dundee Evening Telegraph|date=25 August 1915|page=3 |via=British Newspaper Archive|access-date=11 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="StalybridgeIssySmith">{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0004576%2F19150828&page=5&article=089 |url-access=subscription |title=How Corpl. Issy Smith won the Victoria Cross  |newspaper=Stalybridge Reporter|date=28 August 1915|page=5 |via=British Newspaper Archive|access-date=11 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="MinerIssySmith">{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/45376691 |title=V.C. hero and factory girl. A Melbourne romance  |newspaper=Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW)|date=17 October 1915|page=3 |via=Trove|access-date=11 September 2024}}</ref> This is unlikely as there is nothing stated within official documentation to support this claim.<ref name="NAAIssySmith"/><ref name="FMP168IssySmith"/>

He reported for duty at [[Victoria Barracks, Melbourne]],<ref name="MinerIssySmith"/> headquarters (3rd Military District), on 10 August, and embarked SS Miltiades on 21 October 1914.<ref name="MiltiadesIssySmith">{{cite web|url=http://anzaccentenary.archive.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/British-Imperial-Reserve-Database-PDF.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326222305/http://anzaccentenary.archive.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/British-Imperial-Reserve-Database-PDF.pdf|title=L/Cpl Smith 168 Manchester Regiment, page 80 of 184 |series=British Imperial Reserve Database PDF |publisher=Anzac Centenary|archive-date=26 March 2024 |access-date=23 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="NAAIssySmith">{{cite web|url=https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6039504 |title=SMITH Issy (Sergeant) - Manchester Regiment |series=MT1487/1, Service Records and correspondence concerning Australians serving with other Imperial forces, WWI |publisher=National Archives of Australia|access-date=11 September 2024}}</ref> He arrived in Britain, and was posted to the regimental depot in December 1914.<ref name="FMP168IssySmith"/> He was duly posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion on 6 January 1915.<ref name="FMP168IssySmith"/> The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion was at Cleethorpes.<ref name="StalybridgeIssySmith"/> The [[6th Royal Lancashire Militia#3rd & 4th Battalions|3rd (Reserve) Battalion]] was a pool of trained men, from which reinforcements were sent to the Western Front.{{sfn|Knight|2022|pp=250-251}} On 23 February 1915 he disembarked in France.<ref name="FMP168IssySmith">{{cite web |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM%2FWO363-4%2F7273698%2F131%2F1438 |url-access=subscription |title=British Army WW1 Service Record - Issy Smith |series=WO 363 - First World War Service Records 'Burnt Documents' |publisher=findmypast.co.uk |access-date=11 September 2024}}</ref> After spending time at Rouen, he was posted to the front on 9 March 1915.<ref name="StalybridgeIssySmith"/>

Having actively engaged in the battles of [[Battle of Givenchy|Givenchy]] and [[Battle of Neuve Chapelle|Neuve Chapelle]], the 1st Manchesters had already incurred hundreds of casualties by the beginning of [[Second Battle of Ypres|"Second Ypres"]] on 22 April 1915.<ref name="Mileham">Mileham, p. 92.</ref> [[Chemical warfare]] first emerged on the Western Front during the German offensive, and Smith himself would be temporarily incapacitated by gas. The 1st Manchesters were involved in an initially successful counter-attack conducted by the Jullundur and Ferozepore brigades on 26 April 1915, near Wieltje, in conjunction with other  Allied units.{{sfn|Wylly|2005|p=117-118}} Rudimentary forms of protection against the [[chlorine gas]] proved ineffectual, limiting the advance and causing many soldiers to succumb to its effects.<ref name="Mileham"/>{{sfn|Wylly|2005|p=117-118}}

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 {{convert|250|yd|m|-1}} 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".<ref name="LG"/> 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".<ref name="StalybridgeIssySmith"/>

{| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;" | No. 168 Acting Corporal Issy Smith, 1st Battalion, The Manchester Regiment.
|-
| style="text-align: left;" |For most conspicuous bravery on 26&nbsp;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.
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | ''[[The London Gazette]]'', 20 August 1915<ref name="LG"/>
|}
Smith was gassed in April and May 1915.{{efn|'We were relieved by the Highland Light Infantry about 3 o'clock on the morning of April 27th... I was slightly gassed, and was carried to the first aid post. I lay there very sick for about 24 hours, but would not leave the battalion, as I wanted to see the fight through.... On the night of the 19th May the Connaught Rangers came to relieve us... I was gassed badly this time, and had to be removed to hospital, and I would hardly be so well to-day only for the constant attention which we wounded get at this hospital in Mountjoy square.'<ref name="DDEIssySmith">{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0001384%2F19150825&page=7&article=144 |url-access=subscription |title=Jewish V.C. in Dublin |newspaper=Dublin Daily Express|date=25 August 1915|page=7 |via=British Newspaper Archive|access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref>}}<ref name="MinerIssySmith"/> In June, he was being treated at No. 6 Stationary Hospital at Le Havre.{{sfn|Knight|2022|p=271}} Smith's service record suggests that he was medically evacuated from France in August 1915.<ref name="FMP168IssySmith"/> Smith was hospitalised in [[Dublin]], Ireland, where he recuperated from his gassing.<ref name="ITissySmith">{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0001683%2F19150826&page=6&article=129 |url-access=subscription |title=Corporal Issy Smith, V.C.|newspaper=Irish Times|date=26 August 1915|page=6 |via=British Newspaper Archive|access-date=12 September 2024|quote=Corporal Issy Smith, the Jewish V.C., who is being treated in the Dublin University V.A.D. Auxiliary Hospital, Mountjoy square, for gas posioning, had a busy time last evening.}}</ref>{{efn|'Dublin Jews yesterday morning besieged the Dublin University V.A.D. Auxiliary Hospital in Mountjoy square, for one of the inmates; Corporal Issy Smith, one of their co-religionists, had just been awarded the V.C. Corporal Smith had been in the hospital since August 8th.... it was not long before they went, in ones and twos and dozens, to the hospital at Mountjoy square, where he has been slowly recovering from the effects of gas poisoning since August 8th.'<ref name="DDEIssySmith"/>}} His Victoria Cross was later presented to him at [[Buckingham Palace]] by [[George V of the United Kingdom|King George V]].<ref>''The Jewish Chronicle'', 11 February 1916, p. 8.</ref><ref name="IWNissySmith">{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0001862%2F19160209&page=34&article=034 |url-access=subscription |title=Decorated by the King [on 3 February 1916]. Sergeant Issy Smith; with his mother and sister |newspaper=Illustrated War News|date=9 February 1916|page=34 |via=British Newspaper Archive|access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref>{{efn|The younger woman in the photo described as his sister is in fact his fiancé Elsie, the identity of the woman described as his Mother is unknown.{{sfn|Knight|2022|p=397}} }} 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.<ref>Cesarani, p. 118.</ref><ref name="LMIssySmith">{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000748%2F19150921&page=4&article=142 |url-access=subscription |title=Jewish V.C.'s visit. Corporal Smith's recruiting campaign in Leeds |newspaper=Leeds Mercury|date=21 September 1915|page=4 |via=British Newspaper Archive|access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="MCissySmith">{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000206%2F19150930&page=5&article=061 |url-access=subscription |title=V.C.'s visit to Manchester |newspaper=Manchester Courier|date=30 September 1915|page=5 |via=British Newspaper Archive|access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref> 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.<ref>''The Times'', 6 September 1915; p. 11; Issue 40952; col D.</ref> Also that month, Smith was received at [[Mansion House, Dublin]], by the [[Under-Secretary for Ireland]], [[Matthew Nathan]], who took advantage of the occasion to reaffirm loyalty to both Britain and Ireland.<ref>Keogh, p. 69.</ref> Contemporaries, however, continued to report instances of discrimination against Jewish servicemen, including an incident involving Issy Smith in Leeds.<ref>''The Jewish Chronicle'', 22 October 1915, p. 5.</ref> While documenting his recruitment drive, ''The Jewish Chronicle'' reported that the proprietor of the Grand Restaurant had refused to serve Smith during his tour of [[Yorkshire]] because he was Jewish, while indicating the staff were prepared to accept his non-Jewish acquaintance.<ref>''The Jewish Chronicle'', 22 October 1915, p 13.</ref> Smith's tour continued otherwise without disruption, taking him to [[Edinburgh]], Scotland. His appointed rank changed from Acting Lance Corporal to unpaid Acting Lance Sergeant on 5 October 1915, then he was promoted to Sergeant on 7 March 1916.<ref name="FMP168IssySmith"/> His partial recovery from gassing meant that, for accounting purposes, he was taken on the strength of the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion from 15 December 1915, as opposed to the Depot, which was associated with hospitalised men.<ref name="FMP168IssySmith"/> It was during 1916 that he participated in charity boxing matches.<ref name="SAissySmith">{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000727%2F19160809&page=4&article=035 |url-access=subscription |title=Military boxing tournament [at Esher on 16 August] |newspaper=Surrey Advertiser|date=9 August 1916|page=4 |via=British Newspaper Archive|access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="SBRIssySmith">{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0004755%2F19160818&page=2&article=024 |url-access=subscription |title=Dick Burge's forthcoming ambulance fund tournament |newspaper=Southwark and Bermondsey recorder|date=18 August 1916|page=2 |via=British Newspaper Archive|access-date=12 September 2024|quote=A Bermondsey boxer... will have the honour of opening the proceedings in a six rounds bout with  Sergt. Issy Smith, the Manchester V.C. hero.}}</ref>

Meanwhile, on the Western Front, the demoralised and depleted Indian Corps fought its final European battle at [[Battle of Loos|Loos]].<ref>Omissi, [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/india_wwone_01.shtml India and the Western Front], bbc.co.uk. Accessed 15 August 2007.</ref> With the exception of two cavalry divisions, the Indian Corps in Europe redeployed to the Middle East theatre, sailing from [[Marseille]] on 10 December 1915 and arriving in [[Basra]] on 8 January 1916 to be integrated into the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force.<ref name="James">James, p. 96.</ref> 

Smith returned to active duty as a sergeant. He was posted to the 1st Battalion on 4 September 1916, serving in [[Mesopotamian Campaign|Mesopotamia]]. Within a fortnight of arriving at Basra, he was hospitalised with malaria.{{sfn|Knight|2022|p=421}} After the capture of Baghdad on 11 March 1917, Smith's nose was broken by a shell during the subsequent fighting.{{sfn|Knight|2022|p=447}} He transferred to the [[Royal Engineers]] on 1 April 1917.<ref name="FMP168IssySmith"/> He was granted leave, which he took in Egypt in May 1917, and is understood to have seen his family.{{sfn|Knight|2022|p=454}} He was hospitalised on 5 August 1917, accidentally receiving a large cut to his right knee whilst on duty.{{sfn|Knight|2022|p=459-460}} A letter sent by Smith in 1940 gave an outline of his service history. He took part in the fall of Baghdad, was transferred to the IWT branch of the Royal Engineers, and was redeployed to [[Sinai and Palestine campaign|Palestine]]. {{efn|'After the [[Battle of Jerusalem|fall of Jerusalem]], I was attached to G.S.I., General Allenby's Headquarters until demobilised in 1919.'{{sfn|Knight|2022|p=462}} }} In January 1918, he was treated at Port Said for emphysema. He was hospitalised at the start of September, and was discharged on 19 September 1918.'{{sfn|Knight|2022|p=466}} He was discharged from hospital on 21 November 1918, and returned to [[Cairo]].{{sfn|Knight|2022|p=467}} He had been wounded five times, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biographies.<ref name="ADB"/> A contemporary newspaper article states it was four times.<ref name="STIssySmith">{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000250%2F19190324&page=4&article=110 |url-access=subscription |title=Jewish V.C. hero weds |newspaper=Sheffield Daily Telegraph|date=24 March 1919|page=4 |via=British Newspaper Archive|access-date=12 September 2024|quote=The bridegroom, who has been wounded four times, was in the 1st Battalion of the Manchester Regiment, and he was the second of the five Jews to win the V.C. in the war.}}</ref> The family are in possession of the four [[wound stripe]]s that he wore on his uniform, which can be seen on his wedding photo.{{sfn|Knight|2022|pp=472-474}} Smith embarked at [[Port Said]] on 17 January 1919. Upon returning to Britain in February 1919, he got married, and was discharged from the army on 30 April 1919.<ref name="FMP168IssySmith"/>

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 Rebellion of 1857|Indian Mutiny]], [[Rorke's Drift]], [[Nile Expedition|Relief of General Gordon]], the [[First Boer War|First]] and [[Second Boer War]]s, countless campaigns on the borders of the empire, and dozens from the [[World War I|Great War]].<ref>''The Times'', 28 June 1920; p. 19; Issue 42448; col B.</ref> In October 1921, with [[Henry Edward Kenny|Harry Kenny]], he unveiled the Hackney War Memorial.<ref>''The Times'', 15 September 1921; p. 5; Issue 42826; col G.</ref> In 1922, he attended "The Pilgrimage to Ypres", in Belgium, laying a wreath at the [[Cloth Hall, Ypres|Cloth Hall]] there.<ref>''The Times'', 31 July 1922; p. 12; Issue 43097; col A.</ref>