Regimental Number: 42210
Rank: Captain
Branch: 3rd Canadian Field Artillery
Joseph was born in Warrington, Lancashire, England on October 29, 1892. He emigrated to Canada in 1913, where he worked at a bank until the First World War. In September of 1914 enlisted in the Canadian Army at Valcartier. Joseph met his wife Dorothy Margaret Rooke in England, possibly during a training period or on leave; they were married in April of 1916. Their son, James Andrew Digby Smith, was born in May of 1918 in Birmingham. In April of 1919, he was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre, and on June 12 of that year he sailed for Canada on a troop ship. For a short time he worked at a bank in St. Catharines, Ontario, then was posted to the Imperial Bank of Canada in Grande Prairie. The photographs reveal that they lived in a sort of caboose and Dorothy likely found the life very hard as she was unhappy there. A daughter, Lucy, was born June 20, 1920, in Grande Prairie. Joseph suffered from depression after the traumas of the war and was away from home often which put the marriage under great strain. He requested a transfer and they moved to Ruddell near North Battleford, Saskatchewan. The marriage broke up in 1922 and Joseph went south to the USA while Dorothy returned to England with the children and remarried. When he retired, he returned to Canada and died in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia in 1973.