Professor John Leigh Smeathman (27 May 1865 – 13 January 1933) was a mathematician and Principal of East London College, England, one of the founding colleges of what is now
Queen Mary College
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...
, part of
London University
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...
. He was also
Vice Chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...
of London University in the 1930s.
Early life
Smeathman was born in Street Aston, near
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. In the 2021 census its population was 78,125, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby whi ...
.
[Oxford Journals extract, accessed 24 October 2015](_blank)
/ref> on 27 May 1865, the eldest son of Revd J L S Hatton, Rector of West Barkwith
West Barkwith is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A157 road and about north-east from Wragby. The population is included in the civil parish of Benniworth.
West Barkwith a ...
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
.
He was educated at Hertford College, Oxford
Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...
where he obtained an MA graduating with first class honours in 1889 and second class honours in physics a year later.barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
at Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
.Savilian Professor of Geometry
The position of Savilian Professor of Geometry was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded (at the same time as the Savilian Professorship of Astronomy) by Sir Henry Savile, a mathematician and classical scholar who was ...
James Joseph Sylvester
James Joseph Sylvester (3 September 1814 – 15 March 1897) was an English mathematician. He made fundamental contributions to matrix theory, invariant theory, number theory, partition theory, and combinatorics. He played a leadership ro ...
.
Career
He was Director of Evening Classes (1892–1896), later Director of Studies 1896–1908 and Principal, East London College (University of London), now Queen Mary College, 1896-1933. He was Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of London from 1930–31 and Vice-Chancellor from 1932-33. He was Dean of the Faculty of Science at the university from 1922–26. He also served as a member of the Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
and the West Ham
West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham.
The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...
Education Committees during the 1920s.
Personal life
In 1897 he married Pauline Carlyle, daughter of R J Henderson of Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
and they had two sons.
Notable publications
* ''The Principles of Projective Geometry applied to the straight line and conic'', 1913, reprinted BiblioBazaar (18 Nov 2009)
* ''The Theory of the Imaginary in Geometry: Together with the Trigonometry of the Imaginary'' (Cambridge Library Collection - Mathematics), 1920, reprinted Cambridge University Press (2 Sep 2010),
See also
* List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London
* List of British university chancellors and vice-chancellors
This following is a current list of the chancellors, vice-chancellors and visitors of universities in the United Kingdom. In most cases, the chancellor is a ceremonial head, while the vice-chancellor is chief academic officer and chief executi ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatton, John Leigh Smeathman
1865 births
1933 deaths
Vice-Chancellors of the University of London
Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford