Kenneth Smith

Bank: Westminster Bank

Place of work: Halstead branch

Died: 3 January 1941

Kenneth Harold Smith, known to his bank colleagues as Smithy, was born on 8 December 1920, the son of Percy Charles and Edith Winifred Smith. He joined the staff of Westminster Bank at its Halstead branch in December 1937. 

Outside work Smith was a member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He was called to active service shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Sergeant Smith was killed during air operations over the North Sea on 3 January 1941. He was 20 years old. A bank colleague noted, 'his character and abilities should have carried him far in the bank's service and his death at this early age - he was not yet 21 - is a loss to the future.'