Richard Smith

Richard has studied the First World War for most of his life, having had a grandfather who served and a father whose life passion was Military History, the Great War in particular.

He has walked the battlefields of the Western Front since he was 7-years-old, they are part of his DNA, following in the footsteps of my grandfather, whose story he hopes to tell in the future, and has published articles for the Western Front Association and the Journal of the Royal Artillery.

In more recent years, he has achieved an MA in First World War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, under the guidance of Professor Gary Sheffield and Dr Spencer Jones. He is also a founder member of the Hawthorn Ridge Crater Association on the Somme.

He classes himself as a Great War historian, specialising in the role of the Artillery, whilst also a tour guide, researcher, speaker, CWGC volunteer guide at Stonefall cemetery in Harrogate and now an author!

His study will be around the memoir of an artilleryman, whose handwritten manuscript came into his possession a few years ago. Since transcribing it, he realised this personal story needing sharing, so he has been researching around it over the last two years. It is a fascinating journey over two years of war on the Western Front 1917-1918.