William Smith was born on Boxing Day 1782 and was baptised at Brockenhurst church on 2nd June 1789.

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On 13th January 1806 he married Jane Bullock at Brockenhurst church and we have found records of three daughters. By 1812 the couple had moved to Bucklers Hard where William worked as a blacksmith. Jane died in 1825.

 

Aged 49, he was baptised into the Baptist congregation on 6th February 1831. This pre-dates the chapel's baptistry so it most probably was at Hatchet pond, chilly in February, or more likely in the Lymington Baptist church.

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William married Harriet Rann on 12th December 1831 at Boldre church.

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At a meeting of the Baptist chapel members on Christmas Day 1833, William was one of the 21 members who withdrew from the Chapel’s membership to form the break away Baptist church, led by the Rev John Bartlett Burt, in Massey’s Lane.

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The 1841 census shows William and his 20 year old daughter Mary living in Bucklers Hard. In 1851, aged 68, he was living with his daughter Jane and her family at their home in Woodside, Lymington.

 

He was buried at the chapel by the Rev John Bartlett Burt on 22nd April 1853. ​

The epitaph is a quote from Revelation 14:13