Henry Hugh-Smith

19 June 1937 – 01 December 2016

Former national chairman Henry Hugh-Smith has died at the age of 79. He was a Colonel in the Blues and Royals, having joined the regiment aged 19.

In 1972, Henry was sent to Northern Ireland for the second time. He had served a tour of duty there the previous year, but this time he went as a member of the Widgery Tribunal, which was sent to investigate the Bloody Sunday deaths in Londonderry. Henry was the secretary to the Army’s legal team.

By the night of 13 March, the tribunal had sat in 16 sessions and listened to 114 witnesses, but were yet to visit the scene of the shootings. The atmosphere in Northern Ireland made it very difficult for the inquiry to visit the scene, but Henry saw it as their last opportunity before its members went back to London.

So they went, but the tribunal, along with members of The Green Jackets, came under fire as they walked along the streets of Londonderry. Henry was shot by an M1 carbine bullet in his right arm. He lost consciousness at the scene and came very close to bleeding to death.

Henry was flown back to London that night for further treatment and, later in the year, his right arm was amputated. Despite this, Henry went on to serve in other posts, even becoming the Duke of Edinburgh’s equerry, before retiring as a Colonel.

In 2001, Henry was appointed Chairman of Blesma and for the next nine years he took a very keen interest in all the Association’s activities. Henry was an accomplished sailor and introduced many Blesma Members to the ocean. One such event was in 2010, when at the age of 72, he joined 13 other ex-Service men to make history as the first all-amputee sailing crew to take on the RORC Caribbean 600, a four-day yacht race around the Caribbean. Henry Hugh-Smith died peacefully at home on 01 December 2016.