This week's episode of the Our History, Our Memories video series looks at the life of controversial Gloucester figure Albert Augustus Smith.
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A prominent identity in town as the proprietor of Gloucester Majestic Theatre and a bakery, Albert was thrust into the limelight when his wife Edith went missing in 1930.
He was a suspect in her missing case, with police searching his ovens for her remains. They had no success in finding out what happened to her. Smith had a history with the law, suspected of setting fire to his former bakery at Comboyne. He wasn't convicted of the crime. In the 1930s, he was arrested for setting fire to the nearby Star Theatre.
The gear used to set the fire was found at the Majestic Theatre but due to this being circumstantial evidence, he was released.
After selling the theatre, Smith was jailed for 12 years for attempting to blow up the new owner's home in Wallsend.
The Our History, Our Memories series is a collaboration between Manning River Times and MidCoast Stories.
