Geoffrey Bache Smith
From Tolkien Gateway
Lieutenant Geoffrey Bache Smith (October 18th, 1894 - December 3, 1917) was a childhood friend of J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien, Smith and Robert Gilson attended King Edward's School in Birmingham together, and served in the First World War. On the 3rd of December, 1917, Smith died of wounds sustained in the Battle of the Somme.