 On his retirement he resided in the Sumner's Hotel in Preston, where he died on 26/27 November 1918 from bronchial trouble which had afflicted him for six months.After a small military ceremony, he was buried in the Church of England plot in New Hall Lane cemetery in Preston, Lancashire.Canon William Lummis's 1978 book "Padre George Smith of Rorke's Drift" is a detailed account into the life of Smith and his part in the action at Rorke's Drift on 22–23 January 1879.