Horace Lockwood Smith Dorrien (261) plot

Location

Plot number (FHS)	261
Row	7
Section	177
Date

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Horace Lockwood Smith Dorrien (261) plot

Plot number:
7,177
Family name:
Smith Dorrien
Burial date:

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Horace Lockwood Smith Dorrien (261)

26/05/1858 –12/08/1930

Decorated WWI army officer and former Governor of Gibraltar

26/05/1858 –12/08/1930

Decorated WWI army officer and former Governor of Gibraltar

Relatives

Arthur Hale Smith Dorrien — brother

Robert Algernon Smith-Dorrien — father

Mary Ann Smith-Dorrien — mother

Henry Theophilus Smith-Dorrien (258) — brother

Research:

Jenny Sherwood

General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien GCB GCMG DSO ADC 1858-1930 had a distinguished if at times controversial military career and is greatly respected in Berkhamsted. He distinguished himself in the Second Boer War and held senior commands in the British Expeditionary Force in World War I. He commanded the British II Corps at the Battle of Mons and the battle of Le Cateau, where he fought a vigorous and successful defensive action contrary to the wishes of the Commander-in-Chief, Sir John French, with whom there was a personality clash. History has rather vindicated Smith-Dorrien’s action. In the spring of 1915, he commanded the British Second Army at the second battle of Ypres. French relieved him of his command when he requested permission to retreat from Ypres to a more defensible position.

Smith-Dorrien played no significant role in the rest of the War. His final position was as Governor of Gibraltar from July 1918 until May 1923.

He married Olive Crofton Schneider in 1902. There were three sons. Lady Smith-Dorrien played an active role on the Home Front in World War I for which she received several awards.

General Sir Horace died on 12th August 1930 from injuries sustained in a car accident in Chippenham, Wiltshire.

Jenny Sherwood

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Family name	Smith Dorrien
Burial date	Not known
Burial capacity	Not known
Burial depth	Not known
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Burial visible (1991)?

To the glory of God and loving and undying memory of
Genrl. Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien
G.C.B. G.C.M.G. D.S.O.
Born 26th May 1858 died 12th August 1930
“Gentlemen we will stand and fight“
(le Cateau 26th August 1914)

The Smith, the Dorrien and the Smith-Dorrien families played a prominent role in Berkhamsted’s history for more than 150 years. They are linked with two adjoining estates – that of Haresfoot and that of Ashlyns Hall – which still stand today. Both families had their roots in banking. John Dorrien, whose son George was Governor of the Bank of England 1818-1819, purchased Haresfoot towards the end of the 18th century. In 1801, James Smith, a member of a well-known Nottinghamshire banking family, bought Ashlyns Hall.

The history of the two families became inextricably linked when Robert Algernon Smith, the younger brother of Augustus Smith of Ashlyns Hall and the Isles of Scilly, married the grand-daughter of John Dorrien, Mary Anne Drever. She bore him fifteen children. Robert changed his name to Smith-Dorrien. His eldest son, Thomas Algernon Smith-Dorrien was to become Lord Proprietor of the Scilly Isles at the death of Augustus Smith. Most of this very large family together with some of the Pechell family (Mary Anne Pechell was the second wife of James Smith) are commemorated by a very fine memorial in St Peter’s Church. Elsewhere, on the walls of the north transept, two tablets commemorate members of the Dorrien family.

In Rectory Lane Cemetery, five members of the Smith-Dorrien family are buried – among them military and naval men – whose names are known well beyond the town of Berkhamsted.