Born in Salford in 1881, Charles Edgar Smith was the eldest son of printer / compositor Charles Smith and of Mary Ann Crane, a butcher’s daughter originally from Northamptonshire. Mary Ann gave birth to seven children, of whom five survived infancy: Florence, Charles, Albert, Nellie and Arthur. Mary Ann was widowed by 1901.

Like his father, Charles was a compositor. In 1910 he married Fanny Holmes, and daughter Irene was born that year. The family lived at 4 Morville Place, Brunswick Road. Charles enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery, under the name Edgar Charles Smith, which may have been his preferred name.

Gunner Smith died on 6th June 1917, six weeks after his brother Arthur, and is buried in Dranoutre Military Cemetery