In The Evesham Journal of 4th October 1914 a man by the name of A Smith was recruited in Wickhamford and joined the Worcestershire Regiment, but tracing someone with such a common name in the records is extremely difficult.
There was a baptism in Wickhamford in 1896 of Albert John Smith, the eldest son of Albert Smith who had married Hannah Maria Pope at Wickhamford earlier that year. But they had moved away from Wickhamford soon after Albert’s birth and were living at Ashchurch, Tewkesbury in 1911. There is no proof that this is the recruit who gave his address as Wickhamford in 1914.
Another possibility is Arthur William Smith, who was brought up in Evesham; born in 1887, he was the son of William and Elizabeth Smith. He was listed as a plough boy on a farm in 1901 and was a journeyman gardener at Hampton Court Gardens, Hope under Dinmore, in 1911. It is possible that he may have been working as a gardener at Wickhamford Manor in 1914. His name appears on the 1919 Absent Voters’ List as being from Evesham St Peter, Bengeworth, and he was with the 9th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment (service number 349).