Sir Walter Dorling Smiles, CIE DSO DL

1883 - 1953  (69 years)

• Name	Sir Walter Dorling Smiles  [1, 2]
  Suffix	CIE DSO DL
  Birth	8 Nov 1883	Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland
  Gender	Male
  Death	31 Jan 1953	Donaghadee, Northern Ireland
  Person ID	I5431	FHC029 - Stephen Family Tree
  Last Modified	29 Aug 2024

  
  

  Father	William Holmes Smiles,   b. 1846, Woodhouse (near Sheffield), Yorkshire, England d. 9 Jan 1904, Kilkeel, Down, Northern Ireland (Age 58 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	Lucy Dorling,   b. 23 Oct 1848, Epsom, Surrey, England d. 15 Nov 1939, Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland (Age 91 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Marriage	1874
  Family ID	F3843	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Maggie Heighway,   b. 9 Oct 1880, Sale, Cheshire, England d. 23 Mar 1954, Bucklow Hill, Cheshire, England (Age 73 years)
  Marriage	Between Oct and Dec 1917	Chorlton cum Hardy, Lancashire, England   [2]
  Children	1. Patricia Smiles,   b. 5 Apr 1921, Donaghadee, Northern Ireland d. 23 May 1995, Chilton, Buckinghamshire, England (Age 74 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
  Family ID	F3861	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	29 Aug 2024

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 8 Nov 1883 - Belfast, Antrim, Northern Ireland Death - 31 Jan 1953 - Donaghadee, Northern Ireland Marriage - Between Oct and Dec 1917 - Chorlton cum Hardy, Lancashire, England  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Walter Dorling Smiles CIE DSO DL (8 November 1883 - 31 January 1953) was a Northern Irish politician. Sir Walter was the son of William Holmes Smiles, director of Belfast Ropeworks, and grandson of Samuel Smiles. Sir Walter served during the First World War and, in the 1920s, managed a tea estate in Assam, there he became involved in local government and was a member of the Assam Legislative Council. During the First World War; he obtained a pilots certificate but due to the lack of aircraft he transferred to Royal Naval Armoured Car Division. In 1915 he was seconded to the Imperial Russian Army to fight against Turkish forces in the Caucasus Campaign. In 1918 he had reached the rank of lieutenant commander and was highly decorated; he received the DSO in 1916, with bar in 1917 and a MID, along with Russian and Romanian decorations; such as the St George of the 4th class He was Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackburn from 1931 to 1945. Smiles was re-elected in 1935 but stood for Down in Northern Ireland at the 1945 Westminster election, as a Unionist. The two-seat constituency was split in 1950 into North Down and South Down. Smiles won North Down that year and remained its MP until his death in 1953; he lost his life in the sinking of MV Princess Victoria off Larne Lough, in the Great Storm. He was succeeded by his daughter, Patricia Ford. He was the great-grandfather of explorer Bear Grylls Notes sourced from Wikipedia

  
  

• Sources

  [S389] Ancestry Family Trees, (Name: Online publication - a: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.;). Record for Margaret “Maggie” Heighway https://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1030&h=232147466472&indiv=try [S573] England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005, General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: 8c; Page: 1303. Record for Maggie Heighway https://search.ancestry.com.au/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=8753&h=64605895&indiv=try