George Emmerson Smith was born in Dovercout, Essex on 4th February 1892. In 1901 he and his family were in the Isles of Scilly where George’s dad, William, was a lighthouse keeper on the Bishop’s Rock Lighthouse!

By 1911 the family were living at 11 West View, Dimsdale, with George being recorded as an ‘Apprentice to Bigan Building’. William has retired.

During the Great War, George served in the 9th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry as 41052 Corporal George Emmerson Smith and he was awarded the Military Medal. Sadly we don’t know what his act(s) of bravery was (were) as the information of his award, along with his service record, were destroyed during the Blitz in the Second World War.

His father presented a candle stick to St. Andrews (same design as the one in the memory of Reginald Showan) in thanks for George’s safe return from the War.

George is recorded on the 1919 registration document as Assistant Scout Master, but he may have been with the Troop for some time before as he is recorded by the Sentinel in 1924 as having ‘been with the Troop since its formation’ (see here), although we have nothing to confirm this. George made the wooden Memorial to the Scouts killed in WW1 in the church.
He is still ASM on the 1926 registration, but by the 1929 registration he is SM. He leaves the Troop in the early 1930s.

After leaving the Troop, we lose track of him, but at some point George moves to Scarborough and passes away there between October and December 1978 aged 86.