Robert Wray Smith D.C.M. was born in Reservoir Street in 1876 and was a man of some distinction. His father, Thomas. had passed away when he was a young boy  and was reputed to be the only man to fall 90 fathoms down the pit shaft into water and live to tell the tale. Few people in our district appear to know that he was one of the founders of the Scout movement. In 1916 Colonel R.S. Baden Powell wrote to Mr. Smith congratulating him on his military success and thanking him for what he had done in the early days of the Scout movement when he had formed a troop of boys with the title B.P. Guides.
When he was 9 or 10 years of age, he was taken and raised in Canada by his Uncle of the same name, the Rev. Robert Wray Smith, a Wesley Methodist preacher, who had lived at Bill Quay. He trained for the Methodist Ministry himself but did not continue that career and returned home in 1896.
After a short time Wood, Skinners shipyard at Bill Quay he again in 1900 he returned with a group of miners to the coalfields of Virginia, USA. He did not settle and came back to the shipyards. He had always wanted to be a doctor and began to study and practice first aid. It is here he found his true vocation and he obtained all the certificates and distinctions the St. Johns Ambulance Brigade could award him.
When war was declared on July 14 1914 he volunteered his services and, after four years had been promoted to Company Sergeant Major and was awarded medals for Distinguished Conduct in the Field and the Military Medal for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to wounded men while under fire.
After the war he found employment in charge of the First Aid Post established at Follonsby Pit. He lived at 1 West Crescent where he erected a large flagpole in the garden and flew the Union Jack on special occasions. He helped organise the Junior Imperial League which held its meetings at St. Aidan's and also represented the Wardley people as a Progressive councillor between 1931-33 on the Durham County Council. He died at his home in West Crescent in May 1954.

The Editor has asked me to write a sketch of the life of our friend Wray Smith. To cram into one column of the Advertiser a full record of his activities is quite impossible, his life has been so full of endeavour and achievement in the service of his fellows.
Robert Wray Smith was born at Reservoir Street, Wardley Colliery,. his parents being Mr.. and Mrs. Thomas Smith who will be remembered by some of the older residents. At an early age the father died and Robert Wray Smith went to Canada where he lived with his uncle the Rev. Robert Wray Smith, whose death was recorded in the Advertiser early in 1933. In the year of 1915 the subject of this sketch married Miss Winifred Hogg, a member of an old Bill Quay family.
A Hindu writer once wrote "Greatness is to take the little things of life, and walk humbly among them, and holiness is a great Love and much Serving." Surely he had someone like our friend Wray Smith in mind when he wrote, for that's just his manner of life.
It is usually possible to pick out the principal avenue in which a person has been of service to the people but in this case it is different; Wray Smith has served  with distinction in so many spheres-among the scouts, the sick, the injured, and in social service, religious life, local government, and notable services to King and Country.
Few people in our district appear to know that our friend was one of the founders of the Scout movement.
In a letter dated May 25 1916 Colonel R. S. Baden Powell wrote to Mr. Smith congratulating him on his military successes and thanking him for what he had done in the early days of the Scout movement, when he formed a troup of boys with the title of B. P. Guides.
On another occasion the gallant defender of Mafeking wrote:- " I am glad to think that when shut up in Mafeking, someone in England was thinking along the same lines as myself for the boys of England" That " someone" was Robert Wray Smith.
1914-1918 found our friend on active service tending the sick and wounded. I wish space permitted to quote some of the glowing tributes paid to him for his efficient services and his conspicuous gallantry. He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, the Military Medal, and Bar to his M.M., as well as a decoration from Baden Powell. Well deserved tributes were paid to him by Colonel Hawthorn, General Jackson, General Wilkinson and many others, but one day in those years stands out pre-eminently, when His Majesty the King sent for Sergeant Wray Smith and shaking hands with him said, "You have done bravely and well, I commend you for your gallant conduct" Colonel Clay said to a friend " I would rather be with Wray Smith in a tight corner as with any other man I know".
The War over, our friend came home to resume his normal occupations with renewed devotion; he was honoured by his fellow workmen and the company by which he is employed. In all these celebrations Wray Smith was just the same modest unassuming fellow, that we who have grown up with him from childhood have come to expect.
While the honours placed upon him are appreciated, I think the his best and noblest services have been rendered in the commonplace things of life. He is well-known  as a most efficient ambulance worker, going in and out of the homes of people, dressing their wounds, caring for them in their troubles, handling the sick with the skill of an expert, in difficult cases making their beds more comfortable, and if any man in our district deserves well of his fellows, it is the subject of this brief sketch.
Many men in the thirties to-day owe a good deal to Mr. Smith for the sound training and good advice given them in their Scout days.
I am sure Advertiser readers will wish that he may be spared many years to continue his work of healing among the people in the east end of the district.
Our national poet in his Julius Caesar said, "His life was gentle , and the elements so mixed in him that Nature might stand up and say to all the world, "This was a man".
Much more could be written about the work and influence of Wray Smith but space forbids, yet sufficient has been written to show that we have amongst us one of whom it can be truthfully said, "THIS IS A MAN"
W.F.
Heslops Local Advertiser 1934