DOWN MEMORY LANE: Propaganda leaflet turned up in Bosham

It was picked up in Bosham by his brother-in-law, Lancelot (Bill) Steels, a Yorkshire man who was a Royal Marine billeted in The Red House in Bosham at the time.

Mr Smart has no idea why he and ten other marines were in Bosham – presumably in some kind of defensive role?

“He did, however, meet my half-sister, Betty Smart (from my father’s first marriage) who was serving in the WRAC, a chance encounter that resulted in a long, happy marriage,” says Mr Smart.

“Our family, the Smarts, were long established in Bosham.

“Among other things they operated a boat-building business in the late 1800s and also ran schooners to Sunderland and Newcastle, bringing back coal.”