Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Four: Private W. J. Smith, alias W. Hooton-Smith, Grenadier Guards, later Conductor, South African Service Corps, who was wounded in action at Senekal on 29 May 1900

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State (6683. Pte. W. J. Smith. Gren. Gds.) engraved naming; 1914-15 Star (Cdr. W. H. Smith S.A.S.C. - T & R.); British War and Bilingual Victory Medals (Condr. W. Hooton-Smith. S.A.S.C.) last three in individual named card boxes of issue, edge bruise to QSA, otherwise extremely fine (4) £200-£240

William John Smith, alias William Hooton-Smith, was born in 1879 and attested for the Grenadier Guards. He served with them in South Africa during the Boer War, and was wounded in action at Senekal during the Battle of Biddulphsberg on 29 May 1900. Subsequently employed by his brother-in-law, the theatrical impresario Edward Branscombe [George Edward Salmon], as an assistant manager, he adopted the lifelong alias William Hooton-Smith, and served with the South African Service Corps during the Great War. He was afterwards employed in publishing and advertising in South Africa, and died in 1926.