OXFORD City footballer Bert Smith met his death in the First World War through disease rather than military action by the Germans.

He died of blackwater fever, a severe form of malaria, while fighting in Salonika, Greece, in April 1918, seven months before the war ended. As we recalled (Memory Lane, January 19), he was one of 10 City players to perish in the war.

His great niece, Carole Adams, of Ferry Road, New Marston, Oxford, writes: “It was lovely to see another member of my family mentioned.

“Herbert George Smith, known as Bert, was my great uncle. He was born on September 12, 1890, to Alfred and Lucy Smith. His siblings were Eliza, known as Ciss, Henry, known as Harry, who joined the Royal Flying Corps, Alfred and Annie, my maternal grandmother.

“Herbert went to SS Mary and John School in Hertford Street, East Oxford, and after leaving school, worked as a painter in the family decorating business at 14 Hertford Street where they also lived. “The house is still there and until it had an extension built on the side, there was a huge advert advertising the firm – Smith and Sons, which covered the whole wall.”

Memory Lane this week

He played nearly 100 games for City between 1909 and 1913 and appeared on the left wing in the team that took on South Bank in the 1913 FA Amateur Cup final.

City were unable to repeat their triumph from 1906, when they had won the trophy with a 3-0 victory over Bishop Auckland in wintry conditions at Stockton-on-Tees.

In 1913, City were held to a 1-1 draw in the first encounter and then beaten 1-0 in the replay. Mr Smith also played cricket for Cowley St John and was in the team that won the Oxford & District Cricket Association Trophy in 1912.

He was serving with the 8th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in Greece when he died, aged 27. He had been promoted to Company Sergeant Major – his warrant came through three weeks after his death.

The family have two treasured mementoes of his life – a Bible he carried with him and a gold medal he won at cricket.

He is buried at the Mikra British Cemetery in Kalamaria, Greece, but the family have been unable to find his name on any war memorial.

The other City players who died in the war were Guy Dickinson, Harold Tabernacle, Cyril Benson, Bertram Honeysett, Charles Lakin, Bertram Packer, Heber Slatter, Walter Wicks, and HW Stevens.

Mrs Adams writes: “How sad that so many men were lost from such a small group – almost a whole team. It somehow brings home the enormity of it all.”