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A complete transcription of the entire letter from the Forces Chaplain is provided below. Each handwritten page, along with its corresponding transcription, is displayed on pages: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4

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See also: hand-written letter from Commanding Officer Hutton.

Newspaper clipping

CANTERBURY MOUNTED RIFLES
Died Hospital Ship Franconia, 26th Aug.
Smith, William Alexander, 7/124, Tpr.¹
Louisa Smith, c/o J. France, P.O. Picton².

Chaplain letter - all pages transcribed.

Altringham
England
Sep 12^th 1915

Dear Madam,

It is with very great regret indeed that I write to tell you of the death of Mr. W. A. Smith. Trooper 7/124 Otago Mounted Rifles³, and I do send you my very sincere sympathy. It seems so hard to lose him when he is so far from home. He came away from the Gallipoli

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Peninsula on the hospital ship Gloucester Castle on Monday Aug 23^rd. That night he was transferred to the "Franconia" in which ship I was Chaplain. This ship is a very large one and Mr. Smith was placed in a large room with other patients severely injured. Mr. Smyth was shot through both

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He was there two days, or thereabouts; he passed away at 12:30 am on Thursday 26^th 1915, or about 50 hours from his being brought into the Franconian. His death was felt very much and it must be a great loss to you and the rest of his relations.

We were just leaving Mudros

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Harbour in the island of Lemnos, on our way to England with the wounded and Mr. Smith was buried at sea at noon on the same day as that in which he passed away (Aug 26^th) in the Aegean, latitude 37.12 North and longitude 24.38 East. I took the service.

With my sincere sympathy and my regret at the loss of so good a man, and praying that God will comfort you.

Yours faithfully,

Alan D Johnson
Chaplain to the Forces
Church of England.

Footnotes

1. Trooper. ↩︎
2. Post Office, Picton, New Zealand. ↩︎
3. Almost certainly an error, he was most likely a soldier in the Canterbury Mounted Rifles. ↩︎