George Barnett Smith (17 May 1841 – 2 January 1909) was an English author and journalist. George Barnett Smith Menpes

Life

Born at

Ovenden Ovenden is a village in West Yorkshire, England, next to Boothtown and Illingworth about a mile from Halifax town centre. It is also a Calderdale Ward whose population at the 2011 Census was 12,351. The area was scattered with pockets of Vic ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, on 17 May 1841, George Barnett Smith was the son of Titus and Mary Smith. He was educated at the British Lancastrian school in Halifax, then travelled to London where he worked as a journalist. From 1865 to 1868 Smith was on the editorial staff of '' The Globe'', and from 1868 to 1876 on that of ''The Echo''. He was subsequently a contributor to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. With literary tastes and poetical ambition, Smith managed to become a contributor to the major magazines, among them the ''

Edinburgh Review The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929. ''Edinburgh Review'', ...

'', the '' Fortnightly Review'', and the ''

Cornhill Magazine ''The Cornhill Magazine'' (1860–1975) was a monthly Victorian literature, Victorian magazine and literary journal named after the street address of the founding publisher Smith, Elder & Co. at 65 Cornhill, London, Cornhill in London.Laurel ...

''. In 1889 lung trouble forced Smith to leave London for

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

, and for the rest of his life he was an invalid. A Conservative government granted him a

civil list pension Pensions in the United Kingdom, whereby United Kingdom tax payers have some of their wages deducted to save for retirement, can be categorised into three major divisions – state, occupational and personal pensions. The state pension is based o ...

in 1891, and a Liberal government increased it in 1906. Writing to the last, he died at Bournemouth on 2 January 1909, and was buried in the cemetery there.

Works

Smith made a reputation as author with a series of biographies, the first of which dealt with

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...

(1877). A strong liberal in politics, he was more successful in his ''Life of W. E. Gladstone'' (1879; 14th edit. 1898), and in his ''Life and Speeches of John Bright'' (1881). There followed popular lives of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

(1885),

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

(1886; new edit. 1901), and the German Emperor William I (1887). His most ambitious publication, ''History of the English Parliament'' (2 vols. 1892), occupied him five years. Among his other works were: * ''Poets and Novelists'', 1875. * ''English Political Leaders'', 1881. * ''John Knox and the Scottish Reformation'', 1889. ondon. S.W. Partridge & Co.* ''Women of Renown'', 1893. * ''Noble Womanhood'', 1894. * ''The United States'', 1897. * ''Canada'', 1898. * ''Heroes of the Nineteenth Century'', 3 vols. 1899–1901. * ''The Romance of the South Pole'', 1900. Smith published under the pseudonym of Guy Roslyn three volumes of verse and ''George Eliot in Derbyshire'' (1876). He was a contributor to the early volumes of the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', and his article on

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime and frequently anthologised after her death. Her work receiv ...

in the ninth edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (1876) earned him the friendship of

Robert Browning Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian literature, Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentar ...

. Some of Smith's work were included in ''English Etchings'' (1884–87).

Family

Smith was twice married: (1) to Annie Hodson (died 1868); (2) in 1871, to Julia Timmis, who survived him. He had four daughters, of whom two survived him.

Notes

Attribution

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, George Barnett 1841 births 1909 deaths English male journalists 19th-century English historians English biographers English male biographers