Charles Abel Smith

Born in London in 1959, Charles Abel Smith was educated at Eton, and read geography at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Despite a long family tradition of service with the Grenadiers, he reverted to his family’s earlier banking roots by pursuing a career in finance.

The 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War prompted him to collate and research the remarkable collection of the letters and diaries of his great grandfather, Wilfrid, who died of wounds in May 1915. As his generation is the first of his family not to have served in the Grenadiers, he hopes this book will make amends to the regiment by reminding us of the role it played in defending the nation during that terrible war.

Charles Abel Smith is married with three children and lives in Essex.