[1] Vinton Smith enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Adelaide on 1 February 1916, and was assigned to the 113th Howitzer Battery of the 13th Brigade, with which he saw active service in France.
His battery occupied a position 1,000 yards in rear of the front line, and suffered many casualties from machine-gun and artillery fire.
The firm became known as Vinton Smith, Dean & Dougall, and later Vinton Smith Dougall, Ltd.[6] He was also chairman of Edments Holdings Ltd., and company director for F. J. Walker Ltd., Sydney; M. B. John Ltd., valve manufacturers, Ballarat; Silk and Textile Printers Ltd., Hobart; Modern Permanent Building Society Ltd., Carpet Manufacturers Ltd., Sydney; and several other companies.
She decided to check on him when she heard the chopping stop, and found him dead from a gunshot wound, with a 22-calibre rifle underneath his body.
[8] The city coroner ruled a verdict of suicide, noting that Vinton Smith had been suffering from a serious heart complaint and was "a candidate for a very early death" who appeared to have "shot himself on a sudden impulse".