Sir Archibald Levin Smith (26 August 1836 – 20 October 1901) was a British

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

and a rower who competed at Henley and in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.

Biography

Smith was the son of Francis Smith, J.P. of Salt Hill, Chichester and his wife Mary Ann Levin. He was baptised at New Fishbourne, West Sussex although his mother was the daughter of a

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

immigrant. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He suffered from the pituitary disorder,

acromegaly Acromegaly is a disorder that results from excess growth hormone (GH) after the growth plates have closed. The initial symptom is typically enlargement of the hands and feet. There may also be an enlargement of the forehead, jaw, and nose. Other ...

, which caused him to grow to nearly tall. Athletic as well as tall, he rowed for Cambridge in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in the

1857 Events January–March * January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, ''Postimees'', is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. * January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating. * Janua ...

1858 Events January–March * January – **Benito Juárez (1806–1872) becomes Liberal President of Mexico. At the same time, conservatives install Félix María Zuloaga (1813–1898) as president. **William I of Prussia becomes regent f ...

and 1859 races. Oxford won in 1857 and Cambridge in 1858. In 1858 he was in the winning crews at

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thre ...

in the Grand Challenge Cup with the C.U.B.C. and in the Visitors Challenge Cup and the Wyfold Challenge Cup with

First Trinity Boat Club The First and Third Trinity Boat Club is the rowing club of Trinity College in Cambridge, England. The club formally came into existence in 1946 when the First Trinity Boat Club and the Third Trinity Boat Club merged, although the two clubs had ...

. In the 1859 Boat Race "the race was rowed in a gale of wind, and the Cambridge boat filled and sank between Barnes Bridge and the finish.... Smith alone of the Cambridge oarsmen could not swim, and sat stolidly rowing until, when the water was up to his neck, he was rescued." In later years he regularly bet a new hat on the Boat Race with W.B. Woodgate "on principle and from patriotism to his flag, even when public favour and market odds might seem to be dead against the hopes of his own club." Smith was admitted at the Inner Temple on 27 May 1856 and was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

on 17 November 1860. He was engaged on the Home Circuit and became Judge of the High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division) in 1883. He was then knighted and became an honorary bencher. In 1892 he became

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justice ...

, in which capacity he ruled on the famous case of '' Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co''. On 24 October 1900 became Master of the Rolls, a position he held for almost a year until his resignation a few days before his death. Smith was a keen amateur

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and a member of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) for whom he played in two first-class matches 1861 to 1864. He was a right-handed batsman who scored 16 runs with a highest score of 7. He was appointed Chairman of the Historical Manuscript Commission in March 1901.

Family and death

He married, in 1867, Isobel Fletcher, daughter of John Charles Fletcher, of Dale Park,

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, and had sons Archibald, Geoffrey and Ralph, and daughters Isabel, Elinor, Winnifred and Marjorie. Smith lived at Salt Hill, Chichester, and 40 Cadogan Place, London. Lady Smith drowned in the River Spey in August 1901, during a visit to the estate of their son-in-law J. W. H. Grant, in

Aberlour Aberlour ( gd, Obar Lobhair) is a village in Moray, Scotland, south of Elgin on the road to Grantown. The Lour burn is a tributary of the River Spey, and it and the surrounding parish are both named Aberlour, but the name is more commonly used ...

, Morayshire. Sir Archibald fell ill and also died in Aberlour less than two months later, on 20 October 1901, at the age of 65. He is buried in the churchyard at

Knockando Knockando distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery, located in Knockando, Moray, in the Strathspey whisky-producing area of Scotland. Knockando Distillery was built by John Tytler Thomson in 1898, and is named after the village in w ...

. Their younger son Geoffrey Smith also drowned, at Rosherville, near Johannesburg, South Africa, in August 1902, at 29 years old.

Judgments

*'' Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company'' EWCA Civ 1
892
EWCA Civ 1
[18931 QB 256, [1892">893">892
EWCA Civ 1
[18931 QB 256, [18922 QB 484 (QBD) - an advertisement containing certain terms to get a reward constituted a binding unilateral offer that could be accepted by anyone who performed its terms. * ''Mara v Browne'' [1895] *''Groves v Lord Wimborne'' [1898] 2 Q.B. 402 - breach of a duty to fence off machinery (under the Factory and Workshop Act 1878) could give rise to civil as well as criminal liability in the absence of a clear statutory intent to the contrary.

Public inquiries

Parnell Commission The Parnell Commission, officially Special Commission on Parnellism and Crime, was a judicial inquiry in the late 1880s into allegations of crimes by Irish parliamentarian Charles Stewart Parnell which resulted in his vindication. Background On ...

References

* The Rowers of Vanity Fair - A L Smith

Biography

Family and death

Judgments

Public inquiries

References

See also