Private John Smalley

John Smalley was born in Kibworth Beauchamp in 1882, the son of John & Mary Smalley, and he was a hosiery hand prior to enlisting in the Leicestershire Regiment, service number 12064.

He was aged 33 years when he was killed on 26th May 1915.

Private Smalley was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the Victory Medal, and the British War Medal, and is commemorated on the Ypres Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, panel 33.

John’s brother, Arthur, had been killed exactly four months earlier, on 26th January 1915.

Kibworth Private Killed

Mrs. John Smalley of Dover Street, Kibworth, has been officially notified that her husband, Private John Smalley of the 2nd Leicesters, has been killed in action. The deceased was an employee of Messrs. Johnson and Barnes, and rose by close study and by natural tact to be a skilled mechanic. He was in the Boer War. He is the second son of Mrs. John Smalley, of Paget Street, to fall in the war.

Market Harborough Advertiser, 13th July 1915