Hubert Llewellyn Smith
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Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith (1864 – 19 September 1945) was a British civil servant. He served as permanent secretary to the Board of Trade from 1907 to 1919, where he played an important role in the Liberal government's welfare reforms. He also served as the chief economic advisor to the government from 1919 to 1927.'Sir H. Llewellyn Smith', ''The Times'' (21 September 1945), p. 6.


Education and early career

He was born to Samuel Wyatt Smith, who was from
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
. He was educated at
Bristol Grammar School Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 mixed, independent day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowed by wealthy Bristol merchants Robert and Nicholas Thorn ...
and
Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...
, where he graduated with a first class degree in Mathematical Moderations and Finals. He also won the Cobden Prize. He was briefly a lecturer in political economy to the Oxford University Extension and the Toynbee Trust before he became secretary to the National Association for the Promotion of Technical Education for four years. With Vaughan Nash, Smith co-authored a history of the 1889 London dock strike.William Beveridge, 'Obituary', ''The Economic Journal'', Vol. 56, No. 221 (March 1946), p. 144.


Civil servant

He was appointed the Board of Trade's first Commissioner for Labour in 1893, where his work on statistics led to the Board of Trade Act 1909. Smith was also active in the improvement of
industrial relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade unions, employer organizations, ...
and in 1895 he helped to settle the strike in the shoe-making industry. He was permanent secretary to the Board of Trade from 1907 to 1919. He worked with
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
, then President of the Board of Trade, and
William Beveridge William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge, (5 March 1879 – 16 March 1963) was a British economist and Liberal politician who was a progressive and social reformer who played a central role in designing the British welfare state. His 19 ...
in the organisation of
labour exchange An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In developed countries, there are multiple private businesses which act as employment agencies and a publicly-funded employment agency. Public employment agencies One ...
s and
unemployment insurance Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...
. He studied unemployment insurance in other countries, which led him to the conclusion that compulsory insurance through employers was superior to the voluntary system. His ideas were embodied in the
National Insurance Act 1911 The National Insurance Act 1911 created National Insurance, originally a system of health insurance for industrial workers in Great Britain based on contributions from employers, the government, and the workers themselves. It was one of the foun ...
, which introduced compulsory health insurance in certain industries. As President of the Economic Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, he delivered in 1910 at
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...
an address on "Economic Security and Unemployment Insurance". Here he explained how he had helped devise Britain's unemployment insurance system. The address was published in the ''
Economic Journal ''The Economic Journal'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics published on behalf of the Royal Economic Society by Oxford University Press. The journal was established in 1891 and publishes papers from all areas of economics.The edito ...
'' and was considered by Beveridge to be "one of the most important ever given in that capacity". Smith invented judicial authorities to adjudicate benefit claims, which relieved Parliament of the burden: these were the Insurance Officers, Courts of Referees and the Umpire.Beveridge, 'Obituary', p. 145. Shortly before the outbreak of the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
in 1914, Smith succeeded in putting through his scheme of
war risk insurance War risk insurance is a type of insurance which covers damage due to acts of war, including invasion, insurrection, rebellion and hijacking. Some policies also cover damage due to weapons of mass destruction. It is most commonly used in the shippin ...
. In 1915 he became the general secretary of the
Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis o ...
under
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...
. In his memoirs Lloyd George wrote of Smith: "I considered him to be the most resourceful and suggestive mind in the whole of our Civil Service at that time—and withal a man whose long service at the Board of Trade had brought him intelligently into direct contact with every branch of commerce and industry throughout the world". Beveridge said that in this role Smith's "superhuman industry, his speed, and his resourcefulness in tackling new problems were demonstrated".William Beveridge, 'Sir H. Llewellyn Smith: An Appreciation', ''The Times'' (25 September 1945), p. 6. Smith was the chief economic advisor to the government from 1919 until he retired in 1927. He was a member of the economic committee of the
League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
and deputy delegate to the League of Nations Assembly in Geneva for the years 1923 and 1924. He was also chairman of the British Institute of Industrial Art from 1920 until 1935 and chairman of the National Association of Boys' Clubs from 1935 to 1943. As the Director of the New Survey of London Life and Labour, Smith updated Charles Booth's ''
Life and Labour of the People in London ''Life and Labour of the People in London'' was a multi-volume book by Charles Booth which provided a survey of the lives and occupations of the working class of late 19th century London. The first edition was published in two volumes as ''Life ...
''. After Smith's death, William Beveridge paid tribute to him as "one of the most constructive practical minds that can ever have served the country". In his obituary of Smith in the ''Economic Journal'', Beveridge wrote:
ewas an outstanding public servant, in peace and in war... As a supremely constructive person, he was fortunate in reaching the most influential position in his career in 1907, just when a Government had come to power that wished to get new things done. The country was fortunate in having him there when the first of our
total war Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combata ...
s required so many new things to be done which fell in or near the sphere of his department... For constructive inventiveness in making new ideas in public administration viable, Llewellyn Smith can never have been surpassed, and can have had few equals.Beveridge, 'Obituary', pp. 143-144, 146.


Personal life

Smith married Edith Weekley in 1901 and they had four sons and two daughters.


Works

*''Modern Changes in the Mobility of Labour, Especially between Trade and Trade: A Report to the Toynbee Trustees'' (London: Henry Frowde, 1901). *'Chapters in the History of London Waterside Labour', ''The Economic Journal'', Vol. 2, No. 8 (December 1892), pp. 593–607. *'British Association for the Advancement of Science.—Sheffield, 1910. Extracts from Address to the Economic Science and Statistics Section', ''Journal of the Institute of Actuaries'', Vol. 44, No. 4 (October 1910), pp. 511–518. *'Economic Security and Unemployment Insurance', ''Economic Journal'', Vol. 20, No. 80 (December 1910), pp. 513–529. *''The Board of Trade'' (London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1928). *'The New Survey of London Life and Labour', ''Journal of the Royal Statistical Society'', Vol. 92, No. 4 (1929), pp. 530–558. *''History of East London'' (London: Macmillan, 1939).


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Hubert Llewellyn 1864 births 1945 deaths People educated at Bristol Grammar School Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford British civil servants Guild of St George