SMITH, WALTER CHALMERS (1824–1908), poet and preacher, son of Walter Smith, builder, by his wife Barbara Milne, was born in Aberdeen on 5 Dec. 1824. He was educated at the grammar school, Aberdeen, and at Marischal College, which he entered at the age of thirteen, graduating M.A. in 1841. His original intention was to adopt law as his profession, but under the influence of Dr. Chalmers he entered the New College, Edinburgh, to study for the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland. In 1850 he was ordained pastor of the Free (Scottish) Church in Chadwell Street, Pentonville, London. The small congregation did not become larger under his ministry. In 1853 he resigned and was appointed to Milnathort, in the parish of Orwell, Kinross-shire; and in 1857 he removed to Roxburgh Free Church, Edinburgh. In 1862 he was chosen to succeed the Free Church leader, Dr. Robert Buchanan (1802–1875) [q. v.], in the Free Tron Church, Glasgow. Smith was a thoughtful preacher, catholic in his sympathies, and of rather advanced opinions for the Free Church of his time, though in the end his influence was felt in broadening its outlook. Two ‘Discourses’ that he published in 1866, advocating more liberal views in regard to Sunday observance than those then prevailing in Scotland, came under the ban of his Presbytery, and he was ‘affectionately admonished’ by the General Assembly in June 1867. In 1876 he was translated to the Free High Church, Edinburgh. During the prosecution of Professor Robertson Smith [see Smith, William Robertson] his strong sympathy with the professor gave some offence to the orthodox church leaders; but in 1893 he had so won the confidence of the church that he was chosen moderator of the general assembly. The following year he retired from his charge, when he was presented with his portrait painted by Sir George Reid. He received the degrees of D.D. from the University of Glasgow (1869), and LL.D. from the universities of Aberdeen (1876) and Edinburgh (1893). He died on 20 Sept. 1908. He married Agnes Monteith and left a son and three daughters.
Under the pseudonym of ‘Orwell,’ Smith published, in 1861, a book of poems with the title ‘The Bishop's Walk’; and in 1872, under the pseudonym of ‘Hermann Knott,’ ‘Olrig Grange,’ which reached in 1888 a fourth edition. His other volumes of verse are:
- ‘Borland Hall,’ 1874.
- ‘Hilda amongst the Broken Gods,’ 1878.
- ‘Raban or Life Splinters,’ 1880.
- ‘North Country Folk,’ 1883.
- ‘Kildrostan, a dramatic Poem,’ 1884.
- ‘Thoughts and Fancies for Sunday Evening,’ 1887.
- ‘A Heretic,’ 1890.
A selection of his poems appeared in 1890, and a complete edition in 1902; a volume of sermons was published posthumously in 1909. Smith's verse is smooth and pleasant, touched with humour and full of sympathy, simple and unpretending in style. Several of his pieces are merely tales or character sketches in verse, shrewdly humorous, but rather too colloquial in manner to be termed poetry.
[Who's Who, 1908; Scotsman, and Glasgow Herald, 20 Sept. 1908; Miles's Poets and Poetry of the Nineteenth Century, xii. 109 seq.; information from his daughter, Mrs. Carlyle.]
SMITH, WILLIAM SAUMAREZ (1836–1909), archbishop of Sydney, born at St. Helier's, Jersey, on 14 Jan. 1836, was son of Richard Snowden Smith, prebendary of Chichester, by his wife Anne, daughter of Thomas Robin of Jersey. He entered Marlborough College in 1846, and obtained a scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1855. In 1857 he won the Carus Greek Testament (undergraduate's) prize; in 1858 he graduated B.A. (first class, classical tripos); in 1859 was placed in the first class (middle bachelors) of the theological examination, won the Scholefield prize, the Carus Greek Testament (bachelor's) prize, and Crosse scholarship. In 1860 he won the Tyrwhitt Hebrew scholarship and was elected fellow of his college. He proceeded M.A. in 1862, and won the Seatonian prize for an English sacred poem in 1864 and 1866.
Ordained deacon in 1859, priest in 1860, he was curate of St. Paul's, Cambridge (1859–61). In 1861 he went out to India as chaplain to Frederick Gell, bishop of Madras, and remained there till 1865, learning Tamil, and associating himself with missionary work. Returning to Cambridge as curate of Trumpington (1866), he became vicar there in 1867, and was awarded the Maitland prize for an essay on ‘Obstacles to Missionary Success.’ In 1869 he accepted the principalship of St. Aidan's, Birkenhead, a theological college then at a low ebb. He raised it to prosperity, wiping out a heavy debt and creating an endowment fund. He also served from 1869 to 1890 as examining chaplain to the bishop of Norwich, and in 1880 was made hon. canon of Chester.
