He was one of the first mixed-heritage infantry officers in a regular British Army regiment,[a] and the first killed in World War I. Lucie-Smith was born on 14 December 1889 at Cross Roads, St Andrew, Jamaica, the younger son of Catherine, the granddaughter[b] of Samuel Constantine Burke, a lawyer and politician referred to as "coloured"; and John Barkley Lucie-Smith,[c] a white colonial civil servant who was Postmaster of Jamaica.

[3] On 10 November 1911, he enrolled in the Jamaica Militia Artillery, as a commissioned officer.

[5] Six weeks into the First World War, Lucie-Smith joined the 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a second lieutenant, announced in the London Gazette on 30 November 1914, with seniority to others from Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and New Zealand.

[3][6] Lucie-Smith's story came to renewed public attention after his Memorial Plaque was purchased by James Carver in August 2020.

[3] Carver put the plaque up for auction in November 2020, when it was sold to the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Museum (Royal Warwickshire) for a hammer price £8,500,[f][10] a record price for such plaques.