Hubert Leslie Smith was born on 19 February 1884 in Chagford on Dartmoor. He was one of six children born to the elementary school teachers George and Josephine Smith He trained as a schoolmaster at St Luke’s College, Exeter, and went on to work as a master at the Admiralty Schools in Greenwich. On 6 August 1914, he married Bertha Hilda Frances Rogulski at St Peter’s Church in Brockley, Lewisham.

Before enlisting into the Army on 8 January 1915 he had previous territorial service with 5th (Haytor) Volunteer Battalion The Devonshire Regiment in which he had held the role of Serjeant Instructor of Musketry. A keen rugby player, he was initially posted to 24th Battalion (2nd Sportsmen's) The Royal Fusiliers. He transferred to The King’s (Liverpool Regiment) on 17 April 1915 and was Commissioned into 19th Battalion: the same battalion his brother Captain Harold Aubrey Smith belonged. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1916 and to the rank of captain in 1917.

Capt Smith arrived on the Western Front on 7 November 1915 and saw action on the Somme in 1916. It was there that his brother, by then the adjutant, lost his arm and was invalided home. The battalion took part in the Battle of Arras in the spring of 1917 and the Third Battle of Ypres later that year. Capt Smith was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre and Order of Leopold for his service in Belgium.

On 21 March 1918, the German Army launched Operation Michael, the first phase of their Spring Offensive with the aim of securing a final victory before American forces could arrive on the Western Front in numbers and tip the balance in favour of the Allies. By 23 March the 23rd Entrenching Battalion was in the line south of the Saint Quentin Canal to the west of Ham. That morning Capt Smith arrived with around 100 men of 19th Battalion The King’s (Liverpool Regiment) to support them. At 7am on 24 March, the enemy attacked again. They were held off until about 9.30am when the line began to break and British forces retired, with the last man crossing the bridge at Rainecourt at around 1.30pm. Capt Smith was killed during the fighting that day. He was 34 years old.

His Commanding Officer wrote to his widow that Capt Smith had been ‘slightly wounded, but went back as the only Officer left, and was killed leading his men, upholding the best traditions of the British nation’.

Post war, Hubert was recovered and buried in Ham British Cemetery as an unknown captain of The King’s (Liverpool Regiment). As he was listed as missing Hubert was commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.

The location of his grave came to light after a researcher submitted a case to CWGC hoping to have identified his final resting place. After further investigation by the National Army Museum and JCCC, it was confirmed and a Rededication Service took place at CWGC Ham British Cemetery on 25 March 2025, with a new Commission headstone erected bearing his name.