Sir Francis Villeneuve Smith (13 February 1819 – 17 January 1909) was an Australian lawyer, judge and politician, who served as the fourth

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the Government of Tasmania, executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the Tasmanian House of Assem ...

from 12 May 1857 until 1 November 1860.

Early life: West Indies

Smith was born in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

.Bennett, JM and Ronald C Solomon ''Sir Francis Villeneuve Smith: Third Chief Justice of Tasmania'' (Federation Press, Alexandria, NSW, 2019) p3-4, pp10-11 His mother, Marie Josephine Villeneuve (? – 4 December 1893),Ancestry.co.uk England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915, London, Vol 1a p151 was of African descent but nothing more is known about her parents.Marc Brodie ‘Sir Francis Villeneuve Smith’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (version 22 September 2005) Smith would acknowledge his mother's ancestry by adopting her surname in 1884.Bennett, JM and FC Green ‘Smith, Sir Francis Villeneuve (1819-1909)', ''Australian Dictionary of Biography Volume 6 (''Melbourne University Press, 1976) While his mother was a resident of Port-au-Prince, his father was recorded as ‘Sir (sic) Francis Smith, foreign merchant in this town’. He ‘declared being the natural father of the child…’ Francis Smith senior (5 November 1787– 8 September 1855) was born in

Nevis Nevis ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute the Saint Kitts and Nevis, Federation of Saint Kitts ...

, the son of the ships’ carpenter Francis Smith (? – January 1790) and his common-law wife Amelia Brodbelt (? – May 1817). Described as a ‘

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

’, in March 1765 Amelia Brodbelt had been freed from enslavement by Frances Brodbelt of Nevis. Frances was the unmarried sister of the Nevis planter James Brodbelt who was Amelia Brodbelt’s father. Throughout her life, Amelia was known as a ‘free coloured woman’.

Early life: to Tasmania via England

By 1821 Francis Smith senior and his family were living at 26 Brunswick Place,

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Francis was baptised on 24 September 1821 in the local church, St Leonard's. Before May 1824 the family moved to Lindfield, Sussex, where his father bought a farm which he sold prior to leaving for Australia.Richard Bryant, ‘Townlands - Francis Smith’
Lindfield History Project Group
/ref> The family arrived in

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

on 15 November 1828. After a brief stay in Sydney and then

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

Francis Smith senior bought two large tracts of partially developed land north of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

in the Australian colony of Van Diemen’s Land (later called

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

) and became a farmer.

Education and career

Smith grew up on his father’s estate, ‘Campania' in Tasmania but returned to England to further his education. In 1838 he began studying law at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

and arts at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, graduating with a BA in 1840. He was called to the Bar on 27 May 1842 and in later life was a

Bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher c ...

of his

Inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway. Before the advent of motorized transportation, they also provided accomm ...

from 1890 to 1898. After returning to Tasmania, he was admitted to the Tasmanian Bar in October 1844. He became 'a barrister of some standing 'whose talent and legal knowledge have obtained for him a very large amount of practice'. In 1851 he became a member of the

Tasmanian Legislative Council The Tasmanian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. It is one of the two Chambers of parliament, chambers of the Parliament, the other being the Tasmanian House of Assembly, House of Assembly. Both ho ...

and soon after became

Solicitor-General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

, a role he served until 1854. He was elected to the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

in 1856 and served as

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

in William Champ's first ministry from 1 November 1856 until 26 February 1857. When William Weston's ministry (1857) collapsed, he proceeded to form his own with himself as

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

and Attorney-General. He held office for three years until 1860, becoming the first Premier of Tasmania to hold office for more than one year. In 1860 he was appointed to the Supreme Court bench, becoming Chief Justice in 1870. During his time as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania he displayed legal aptitude, producing well-reasoned judgments. Smith was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1862. On ending his distinguished legal and political career, he retired to England where he died on 17 January 1909 in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Family

Smith married Sarah Giles on 26 August 1851.''The Cornwall Chronicle'' 30 August 1851 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/65576337 accessed 4 June 2021 She was born about 1832 in Foxford,

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and died on 29 July 1909. She was the only child of the Reverend George Giles of Launceston. They had two sons and two daughters; only one of the sons has been identified: o Francis George Villeneuve Smith (1854–1941), solicitor, left Tasmania for Sydney in 1883, on 2 July 1885 married Caroline (Lena) Anne Shadforth Stephen, only child of Mr M. H. Stephen, barrister-at-law.''Australian Town and Country Journal'', Sydney, NSW, 11 July 1885 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70981076 accessed 4 June 2021 o Kate Villeneuve Smith (c 1856 Tasmania - ?)https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ Census 1891 o Margaret Villeneuve Smith (c 1861 Tasmania - ?)

Early life: West Indies

Early life: to Tasmania via England

Education and career

Family

References

Further reading