SMITH FAMILY HISTORY
Last Updated : 28 Dec 2011

Ron Smith Senior was born on the 6th of November, 1914 and was the son of George Thomas Smith, a railway clerk, and Minnie Bryan. George Thomas Smith died young in 1918 and Minnie Bryan later remarried. The photo on the right shows Ronald with mother Minnie Bryan and who is believed to be his step father Thomas Perry.

Ron is understood to have gone to school at St.Michaels, Aigburth, Liverpool 17. As a schoolbay aged 14, Ron worked for Jones' Shoe Shop in Bold Street, Liverpool 1 where he delivered shoes to wealthy customers by bike. He learned to drive at a young age and he said it was in a Morris Bullnose. Later he drove trucks and once told the story of having to let tyres down in order to pass under a low bridge.

On the 29th of March 1935 aged 20 years old, Ron insured a Rudge Whitworth 350cc motorcyle, registration number KF 338 when living at 15 Madryn Street, Liverpool 8. From the registration number, it is possible to date the bike to 1930.

During World War 2, Ron was in the RAOC (Royal Army Ordnance Corps). It is understood that the RAOC grew raidly during WW2 to 8,000 officers and 130,000 men in the space of four years. A certificate of discharge shows he joined the RAOC on the 13th of June 1940 and left them at Leicester on the 6th of September 1944 after 4 years 96 days of service. Little is known about what Ron did during his time in the army but it understood he spent time in London and did receive some injuries during the war. When he left RAOC he had been in the role of motor vehicle fitter.

As well as at least one motorcycle, Ron also owned many other vehicles and on the 27th of April 1948, he purchased a Ford "Tudor" registration number FV 7632 from a car dealer at Garston, Liverpool for 120 pounds. At the time, he was living at 47 Sandown Lane, Liverpool 15. Again from the registration number it is possible to date the car and to 1935 in this case. That would make the car 13 years old at purchase but perhaps believable considering the shortages after World War 2 (1939 to 1945). From an old photo it is possible to identify part of a matching Ford Model Y which is probably a 1935 model and this could be the car purchased in 1948. By 1959, Ron was driving a 1951 Vauxhall Velox registration number FFR 200. The insurance on this car was renewed on the 15th of May 1959 and shows that the it had a 2275cc engine, seating for 5 or 6 people and was valued at 200 pounds.

Ron is recorded as a taxi Proprietor at this date and by then owned his second taxi which was an Austin FX3 registration number TKF 27. This vehicle had the Liverpool taxi plate number 22 which was later transferred to a new Austin FX4 cab registration number 8084 KC in the early 1960s. It is not known when Ron first got involved with the taxi business but it was sometime before summer 1954, when he was driving an Austin Low Loader registration number EGO 533. A photo, believed to have been taken in the late 1940s at Hale, shows another unidentified taxi with a Chester registration number starting AFM 9... It does not appear to be an Austin model. It is understood that his friend Frank Elliot, who ran an insurance business in Liverpool helped Ron first get his own first taxi along with the Liverpool Plate "22", an essential requirement in order to pick up fares in the city of Liverpool, which usually came at a high purchase price.