Gerard Edwards Smith (1804–1881) was a Church of England cleric and botanist.

Life

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, he was sixth son of Henry Smith. He entered Merchant Taylors' School in January 1814, and St. John's College, Oxford, as Andrew's exhibitioner, in 1822; he graduated B.A. in 1829. He was ordained that year, and became a curate at Sellinge; and then at

Stoughton, West Sussex Stoughton is a village and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England located north west of Chichester east of the B2146 road, on a lane leading to East Marden. The parish has a land area of . In the 2001 census 631 peo ...

and

East Marden East Marden is a village on the spur of the South Downs in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It is within the civil parish of Marden, West Sussex. It is first mentioned in the Domesday Book as Meredone and was given in 1086 to Rog ...

in 1833. Smith was vicar of St. Peter-the-Less,

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

, from 1835 to 1836, rector of

North Marden North Marden is a tiny village on the spur of the South Downs in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. It is within the civil parish of Marden, West Sussex, 7.5 miles (12 km) northwest of Chichester on the B2141 road. North ...

, Sussex, from 1836 to 1843, vicar of Cantley, near

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, Yorkshire, from 1844 to 1846, and perpetual curate of

Ashton Hayes Ashton Hayes is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ashton Hayes and Horton-cum-Peel, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is located about 8 miles east of Chest ...

, Cheshire, from 1849 to 1853. He was vicar of Osmaston-by-Ashbourne, Derbyshire, from 1854 to 1871. He died at

Ockbrook Ockbrook is a village in Derbyshire, England. It is almost contiguous with the village of Borrowash, the two only separated by the A52. The civil parish is Ockbrook and Borrowash. The population of this civil parish at the 2011 Census was 7,335. ...

, near

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

, on 21 December 1881, and his herbarium was preserved at University College, Nottingham.

Works

Before being ordained Smith published his major botanical work, ''A Catalogue of rare or remarkable Phanogamous Plants collected in South Kent'', London, 1829, which is dated from Sandgate. The ''Catalogue'', of 76 pages, is arranged by the Linnæan system, deals critically with several groups, and had coloured plates drawn by the author. Smith was the first to recognise several British plants, describing ''Statice occidentalis'' under the name ''S. binervosa'' in the ''Supplement to English Botany'' (1831, p. 63), and ''Filago apiculata'' in ''The Phytologist'' for 1846 (p. 575). He contributed ''Remarks on Ophrys'' to

John Claudius Loudon John Claudius Loudon (8 April 1783 – 14 December 1843) was a Scottish botanist, garden designer and author. He was the first to use the term arboretum in writing to refer to a garden of plants, especially trees, collected for the purpose of ...

's ''Magazine of Natural History'' in 1828 (i. 398); ''On the Claims of Alyssum calycinum to a place in the British Flora'' to ''The Phytologist'' for 1845 (ii. 232); a preface to W. E. Howe's ''Ferns of Derbyshire'' in 1861, enlarged in the edition of 1877; and ''Notes on the Flora of Derbyshire'' to the ''

Journal of Botany, British and Foreign ''Journal of Botany, British and Foreign'' is a monthly journal that was published from 1863 to 1942, and founded by Berthold Carl Seemann Berthold Carl Seemann (25 February 1825, in Hanover, Germany – 10 October 1871, in Nicaragua, Centra ...

'' for 1881. Other works were: * ''Stonehenge, a poem'', Oxford, 1823, signed "Sir Oracle, Ox. Coll.", humorous. * ''Are the Teachings of Modern Science antagonistic to the Doctrine of an Infallible Bible?'' London, 1863. * ''The Holy Scriptures the original Great Exhibition for all Nations'', an allegory, London, 1865. * ''What a Pretty Garden! or Cause and Effect in Floriculture'', Ashbourne, 1865.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Gerard Edwards 1804 births 1881 deaths 19th-century English Anglican priests English botanists People from Camberwell Parson-naturalists People from Derbyshire Dales (district)