Smith, Rev. Sydney Bicheno
Second Lieutenant Sydney Bicheno Smith, R.G.A., died in King's College Hospital of wounds in the morning of Advent Sunday. He had been a theological student at King's College London; he obtained the College Associateship, the B.D. of the University of London, with first class honours in Biblical and Historical Theology. He was ordained deacon in 1909 and priest in 1910, by the Bishop of Southwark, and was curate first of St. Andrew's, Peckham, and then of St. Barnabas, East Dulwich. In 1914 he joined the R.A.M.C. as a private and in that position obtained an intimate acquaintance with the needs of soldiers. The following year he became chaplain, and went out to Egypt, where he took the opportunity of learning Arabic, and of making himself acquainted with the Coptic church. After that he was in France during the next two years. But he was not content without sharing more closely in the dangers of the war, and in 1917 he became a cadet in the Artillery. He received his commission in the R.G.A. in April, 1918, went to France in September of the same year, and was wounded by a high explosive shell when returning from a front observation post near Cambrai after just a month on active service. He was twice operated upon, but pneumonia supervened, and he had not the strength to recover. At King's College, in his curacy, and in his many positions in the Army his ability, his genial disposition, and his brightness won him many friends. A boy, in his parish, whom he had trained, writes:- "I feel I have lost the best friend I ever had; there is no one whose advice as a friend or whose counsel as a prist I esteemed more highly. His ideals were of the highest, his aspirations of the holiest" His colonel in the gunnery school says:- "He had endeared himself to us all at the gunnery school by his high ideals and also his bright outlook on life." Lieutenant Smith was married and leaves a daughter. The Times 12 Dec 1918
Biographical
| Surname(s) | Smith, |
|---|---|
| First name(s) | Rev. Sydney Bicheno |
| Family details | Son of Frances and the late William Augustus Sydney Smith; husband of Dorothy May Kennedy Smith, of 18, Hedge Lane, Palmer's Green, London |
| College | King's College London and/or King's College London Hospital |
| Dept / course | Faculty of Theology |
| Qualifications | A.K.C. 1908; B.D. 1910 |
| Military unit | Royal Garrison Artillery |
| War / conflict | World War One (1914-1918) |
| Date of death | 1 December 1918 |
| Age at death | 35 |
| Rank at death | Second Lieutenant |
| Place of death | King's College Hospital |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia following an operation on his wounds |
| Burial place | Camberwell Old Cemetery |
| Commemoration(s) | King's College Chapel |
| Sources | King's College London Archives; Commonwealth War Graves; Crockfords 1914; The Times |