Charles Smith, his brother Jeremiah and half brother William all died in the First World War. Charles joined the 1st Battalion Leicestershire Regiment the day war was declared and was awarded the Military Medal for bravery. He was born at Whitwell on 26 December 1893, the son of Jeremiah and Matilda Smith of Buswick Lodge, Cottesmore. However from the age of two until 19 he was brought up by his grandmother Lucy Naylor in Preston. He was a railway porter before enlisting on 4 August 1914 at Melton Mowbray. On 4 December he was made Lance Corporal and promoted to rank of Sergeant on 7 February 1916. He went to France on 4 May 1915, and was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field. But before his name could be published in the London Gazette of 18 July 1917, Charles was killed by a shell on 28 June 1917. He is buried in Philosophe British Cemetery in Vermelles, grave I.S.35 and is remembered on the war memorial in Cottesmore where his parents lived, and the war memorial at Preston where he lived with his grandmother.