Colin Boyd has provided the following:
John was born on 30th September 1881. He was working as a miner living with his father, George at 10, King Georges Road, Newbiggin by the Sea when he enlisted in the Royal Naval Division on 6th November 1914.
He joined the Hawke Battalion on 20th February 1915 and was invalided to the UK on 28th September 1915 suffering from a contusion to the left eye.
He joined the Nelson Battalion in France as a trained cook on 25th November 1916 and was killed in action on 24th April 1917.
John William Smith is remembered in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on N10.06 and N10.14
