George Smith (1789 – 21 August 1846) was a Scottish born publisher who co-founded, along with Alexander Elder, the British publishing company Smith, Elder & Co.

Biography

Early life

George Smith was born in Scotland in 1789. His father was a small landowner in the

County of Moray Moray; ( gd, Moireibh ) or Morayshire, called Elginshire until 1919, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland, bordering Nairnshire to the west, Inverness-shire to the south, and Banffshire to the east. It w ...

. His father died while he was very young, and the property, badly managed by an uncle, was lost before George came of age.The House of Smith Elder, Leonard Huxley, 1923. As a young man George was apprenticed to Isaac Forsyth, a bookseller and banker in the town of

Elgin, Moray Elgin (; sco, Ailgin; gd, Eilginn, ) is a town (former cathedral city) and formerly a Royal Burgh in Moray, Scotland. It is the administrative and commercial centre for Moray. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher gr ...

. While still young George moved to London with no resources beyond his own power to work. He was by nature hard working and conscientious, and made steady progress after coming to London. He first found employment in the publishing house of Rivington in St. Paul's Churchyard. His next employer was the famous publisher John Murray.The Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911, Volume 25, page 260. While working for Murray, he was once sent to deliver proof sheets to

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

Career

In 1816 George and another Scottish immigrant to London, Alexander Elder, a native of

Banff, Aberdeenshire Banff ( gd, Banbh) is a town in the Banff and Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated on Banff Bay and faces the town of Macduff across the estuary of the River Deveron. It is a former royal burgh, and is the county town of the ...

, set up as partners in a small business. They opened shop at 158

Fenchurch Street Fenchurch Street is a street in London linking Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street in the west. It is a well-known thoroughfare in the City of London financial district and is the site of many corporate office ...

as booksellers and stationers. The new firm was called Smith & Elder. After 3 years, the partners added publishing to the other branches of their business. In March 1819 they were admitted to the

Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (until 1937 the Worshipful Company of Stationers), usually known as the Stationers' Company, is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Stationers' Company was formed in ...

. Membership in the company was necessary to the pursuit of publishing in London. On 19 July 1819 Smith & Elder entered their first publication in the Stationer's Company register. This was a collection of sermons and expositions by John Morison. George Smith was married on 12 October 1820 to Elizabeth Murray, the daughter of Alexander Murray, a successful glass-ware manufacturer in London. The young couple lived over the Smith & Elder shop in Fenchurch Street, and it was here that their second son (of 6 children)

George Murray Smith George Murray Smith (19 March 1824 – 6 April 1901) was a British publisher. He was the son of George Smith (1789–1846), who, with Alexander Elder (1790–1876), started the Victorian publishing firm of Smith, Elder & Co. in 1816. His br ...

was born on 19 March 1824. Later in 1824 the firm of Smith & Elder was moved to No. 65

Cornhill, London Cornhill (formerly also Cornhil) is a ward and street in the City of London, the historic nucleus and financial centre of modern London. The street runs between Bank Junction and Leadenhall Street. The hill from which it takes its name is one ...

. After this move the firm was joined by a third partner and acquired its permanent designation of Smith, Elder & Co. Their new partner had important connections in India, and he brought to the firm the new department of an Indian agency. The firm began their Indian operations with the export of books and stationary to officers of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

, and eventually expanded into banking and the export of other commodities. The firm's Indian interests came to be the most important and lucrative branch of their business.

Later life

In the 1830s the publishing department of Smith, Elder & Co. won an assured reputation. The firm published a wide variety of items, including novels, translations, pamphlets, and collections of prints. In 1838 George Murray Smith joined the firm, where George Smith gave him a thorough training in the business. In 1841 George moved the family to a home in

Denmark Hill Denmark Hill is an area and road in Camberwell, in the London Borough of Southwark. It is a sub-section of the western flank of the Norwood Ridge, centred on the long, curved Ruskin Park slope of the ridge. The road is part of the A215 road, A21 ...

. In 1843 George Murray Smith was allowed to assume control of the publishing interests of Smith, Elder & Co. At the end of 1844 George Smith fell ill from

cerebral softening Cerebral softening, also known as encephalomalacia, is a localized softening of the substance of the brain, due to bleeding or inflammation. Three varieties, distinguished by their color and representing different stages of the disease progress, a ...

. He moved from Denmark Hill to a small farm at Boxhill. He was unable to attend to the business of the firm, and his place was taken by George Murray Smith soon after he came of age in 1845. George Smith died at the age of 57 in August 1846.

References

External links

The House of Smith Elder
* Memoir of George Smith by Sidney Lee {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, George 1789 births 1846 deaths British book publishers (people) 19th-century British newspaper publishers (people) People from Elgin, Moray