Vincent Arthur Smith, , (3 June 1843 – 6 February 1920) was an Irish Indologist, historian, member of the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

, and curator. He was one of the prominent figures in Indian historiography during the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. In the 1890s, he was key to exposing the forgeries of

Alois Anton Führer Alois Anton Führer (26 November 1853 – 5 November 1930) was a German indologist who worked for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). He is known for his archaeological excavations, which he believed proved that Gautama Buddha was born i ...

, then working for the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexand ...

, who Smith caught in the act of making fake inscriptions.

Biography

Smith was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

on 3 June 1843 which was then part of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

. His father was Dr

Aquilla Smith Aquilla Smith (28 April 1806 – 23 March 1890) was a highly regarded medical doctor, numismatist and archaeologist. He represented the Irish College of Physicians on the General Medical Council for almost forty years, and was an authority on I ...

, well known in medical and numismatic circles in Dublin and London. After graduating from

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, he passed the final examination for the

in 1871, at "the head of the list", and served in what is now

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

until 1900, in the regular ICS roles, rising to "Chief Secretary to the government" in 1898, becoming a Commissioner the same year. Throughout this period he was a prolific writer on Indian history, and finally left the service early to devote more time to this, in 1900, returning to England. Moving first to

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, by 1910 Smith was settled in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

where he joined St John's College and was appointed a Curator of the Indian Institute. Following his retirement, Smith wrote several monographs on Indian history. These included two monographs on the emperors

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

and

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...

respectively, which he went on to revise several times, updating them to reflect new research and information. He also wrote published two comprehensive volumes on Indian history, ''The Early History of India'' and ''The Oxford History of India,'' as well as a book about the history of fine arts in India and Sri Lanka. Smith was honoured with the award of

Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...

and awarded a doctorate by

Dublin University The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Du ...

in 1919. He died in Oxford on 6 February 1920.The History of British India: A Chronology. by J F Riddick

Works

* ''General index to the reports of the Archaeological Survey of India: Volumes I to XXIII, with a glossary and general table of contents'', Simla, Government Central Press, 1887. - Varanasi: Indological Book House, 1969 * Smith, Vincent Arthur (1893). Editor of William Henry Sleeman'sbr>''Rambles and Recollections of an Indian official Volume 1''''Rambles and Recollections of an Indian official Volume 2''
Westminster Reprint edition of the 1893 (2 volumes) * Preface to Purna Chandra Mukherji: ''A report on a tour of exploration of the antiquities of Kapilavastu Tarai of Nepal during February and March, 1899'', Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, 1901; Delhi Indological Book House, 1969. * Smith, Vincent Arthur (1901)
''Asoka, the Buddhist Emperor of India''
1 ed. Oxford 1901; 3rd ed.,

Rulers of India series The ''Rulers of India'' was a biographical book series edited by William Wilson Hunter and published from the Clarendon Press, Oxford. Hunter himself contributed the volumes on Dalhousie (1890) and Mayo (1891) to the series. Background William ...

Biography

Works

References

Further reading