Friday 28th November 2014
Fromelles Project Image courtesy & © Australian Army at army.gov.au

We have received a letter from Australia, asking readers of The Chesterfield Post for their help in tracing the family, possibly from Staveley, of a young soldier killed in action.



The letter, from a Marg O'Leary of the Fromelles Association, reads as follows and, as ever, your help would be very much appreciated.

Re: 1640 Pte Arthur George SMITH,
32rd Battalion Australian Imperial Forces AIF
Born 1894,
Killed in action, 20th July 1916, Battle of Fromelles.

"I am writing to ask for help with a Chesterfield family related to the above soldier - his SPRINTALL and KEY ancestors are from Staveley.

Are there any relatives in your region? There are no relevant relatives in Australia.

The soldier I am researching is Arthur George SMITH, who died at the Battle of Fromelles, France, 20th July 1916.

We need your assistance to find relatives to help identify the soldier via DNA. Arthur was a 21 year old blacksmith's striker, 5'4" tall, and 9 stone when he signed up in 1915. His record can be seen at the National Archives of Australia web site. (59 pages)

As volunteer researchers with the Fromelles Association of Australia, we assist the Australian Army to identify living relatives of soldiers who died at Fromelles. (Please google 'The Fromelles Project' or CLICK HERE)

In 2008, 250 Australian soldiers were exhumed from a mass grave the Germans made the day after the battle. Before formal reburial, their DNA was taken for the purpose of matching with living relatives. 144 have now been identified. The free DNA test covers both the male (Y DNA) or female (mt DNA) line of the family.

Arthur SMITH is believed to be one of the soldiers from the mass grave. Arthur's ID disc was returned by the Germans.

We need help to identify him - to find relatives to talk to, or to find relatives who may be the DNA match. Identifying any siblings of his grandparents would be a start. Are there any SPRINTALL or KEY cousins out there?

We are searching the female line for Arthur, and have been unable to find any of that line for his mother Charlotte KNOWLES and grandmother Alice DAVENPORT.

However we think it may be possible to go back to his great grandmother Maria SPRINTALL who married Robert Davenport in 1849 in Chesterfield - and her mother Martha KEY who married Samuel SPRINTALL in 1802, in Staveley, Chesterfield. There may be female descendants of these marriages.

If we identify the soldier, it would mean a gravestone with his name and details on it, and a full military ceremony. The relatives would be invited to the ceremony at Fromelles.

At present, the gravestone says 'Australian Soldier Known to God'.

I would be most grateful for any help with this family."

Marg O'Leary, Fromelles Association
Port Stephens, NSW.
Email: marg@rickarby.net
27th November 2014

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