Evelyn Arthur Smythies, CIE (19 March 1885Bateman, Robert. ''Stamp collectors' who's who''. London:

Stanley Gibbons The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and phila ...

, 1960, p. 81. – 10 January 1975), was a distinguished

forester A forester is a person who practises forest management and forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Fores ...

and

philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, it is possible ...

, born of British parents in India. Smythies was an expert on the ecology of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

and

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. His careful studies of the earliest postage stamps of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Jammu Jammu () is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute ...

and

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

, and Canada produced groundbreaking handbooks on which philatelists rely, even today.

Forestry

Born in

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

, on 19 March 1885 to forestry conservator Arthur Smythies (1847- 1934) and his wife Gertrude (formerly Gertrude Aston), Evelyn Arthur Smythies was educated at

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

, and received his degree in geology and a diploma in

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

from

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in 1908, then served in the

Indian Forest Service The Indian Forest Service (IFS) is the premier forest service of India. .The IFS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) & the Indian Police Service (IPS). It was constituted in the year 1966 un ...

from 1908 until 1940, based in

Nainital Nainital (Kumaoni language, Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a town and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the Uttarakhand High Court, High Court of the state being ...

. He was Chief Conservator of the Forest of Nepal from 1940 through 1947. Smythies' ''The Forest Wealth of India'' appeared in 1924. That same year, with C. G. Trevor, he authored ''Practical Forestry Management.'' Smythies and

Jim Corbett Edward James Corbett (25 July 1875 – 19 April 1955) was an Anglo-Indian hunter and author. He gained fame through hunting and killing several man-eating tigers and leopards in Northern India, as detailed in his bestselling 1944 memoir '' M ...

proposed that an area around Ramnagar be made a "

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

" to protect the threatened tigers and other living things. These include the tiger, elephant, chital, sambar, nilgai, gharial, King Cobra, Indian muntjac, wild boar, hedgehog, common musk shrew, flying fox, Indian Pangolin, and nearly 600 species of birds. In 1936, the Hailey National Park came into being as India's first

. It was renamed the Ramganga National Park after India's Independence, but later it was renamed the

Jim Corbett National Park Jim Corbett National Park is a national park in India located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand state. The first national park in India, it was established in 1936 during the British Raj and named ''Hailey National Park'' after Willi ...

in today's

Philately

''The Half Anna Lithographed Stamps of India,'' a monograph by Smythies and Denys R. Martin appeared in 1927. Martin and Smythies also produced a pioneering study of the 1854 Four Annas, which won the 1932 Crawford Medal of the

Royal Philatelic Society London The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) is the oldest philately, philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as ''The Philatelic Society, London''. The society runs a postal museum, the Spear Museum of Philatelic History ...

. Other Smythies monographs appeared on the stamps of

, written with L. E. Dawson and H. D. S. Haverbeck; and on

and

, written with L. E. Dawson. In 1956 Smythies' interest shifted to Canadian stamps and postal history. He focused on British North America but also included Canadian cancels,

duplex cancel A duplex canceller was a hand stamp used to cancel postage stamps and imprint a dated postmark A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered ...

s, registered stamps, precancels, rollers, secret dates, Admirals and perforations. Forgers held a special interest for Smythies: these include

Jean de Sperati Jean de Sperati (14 October 1884 – 28 April 1957) was an Italian stamp forger. Robson Lowe considered him an artist and even professional stamp authenticators of his time attested to the genuineness of his work. Sperati created what he called ...

, Angelo Panelli and Philip Spiro. Canadian Postal Archives (National Archives of Canada) Accession 1989-565.
/ref> Smythies was active in the philatelic community. He was a Fellow of the

and the Canadian Philatelic Society of Great Britain. He was also a leading member of the

Philatelic Society of India The Philatelic Society of India (PSI) was formed in 1897 Companion 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 (:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, ...

Family

Smythies was the elder brother of Bernard 'Bunny' Smythies (father of

Yorick Smythies Yorick Smythies (21 February 1917 – 1980) was a student and friend of Ludwig Wittgenstein known for his notes of the philosopher's lectures. He was also a friend of, and character inspiration for, the novelist (and philosopher) Iris Murdoch. ...

) and of Enid Smythies (

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...

' paternal grandmother). His wife, Olive Muriel ''née'' Cripps was the author of ''The Tiger Lady''. Their elder son, Bertram E. Smythies, was known for his work in forestry and the study of birds in

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

and

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

. Their younger son,

John Raymond Smythies John Raymond Smythies (30 November 1922 – 28 January 2019) was a British neuropsychiatrist, neuroscientist and neurophilosopher. He had a long academic career at institutions such as the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University o ...

, was a distinguished neuropsychiatrist and neurophilosopher and author of 14 books in these subjects.

Publications

* E. A. Smythies and A. . G.Trevor, '' Practical Forestry Management: a handbook with special reference to the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh,'' Allahabad, Government Press, United Provinces (1923) t Internet Archive">Internet_Archive.html" ;"title="t Internet Archive">t Internet Archive* E. A. Smythies, ''India’s Forest Wealth.'' India of today 4:1–137. London, Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press (1924); Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Oxford University Press (1925) * Denys R. Martin and E. A. Smythies, ''Half Anna Lithographed Stamps of India'' (1928) * D. R. Martin and E. A. Smythies, ''The Four Annas Lithographed Stamps of India, 1854–55'' London, Philatelic Society of India and Stanley Gibbons Ltd. (1930) * E. A. Smythies, ''Notes on the Government of India Stamp Collection at New Delhi.'' Delhi. 1933 * E. A. Smythies and L. E. Dawson">L.E. Dawson, ''The Postage Stamps of Jammu & Kashmir Simplified'' Philatelic Society of India, The Mall, Lahore (1937
On line excerpts
* E. A. Smythies, ''Big game shooting in Nepal: With leaves from the Maharaja's sporting diary'' Calcutta, Thacker, Spink (1942) * Col. G. L. Roberts and E. A. Smythies, ''The Japanese Occupation Stamps of Burma.''

Philatelic Society of India The Philatelic Society of India (PSI) was formed in 1897People educated at Clifton College British philatelists People from Nainital 1885 births 1975 deaths Imperial Forestry Service officers Fellows of the Royal Philatelic Society London Philately of India Forestry in India Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford British foresters Forestry in Nepal