Thomas Sercombe Smith (1858 – 31 March 1937) was a British civil servant and judge. He was the

Colonial Treasurer of Hong Kong The Financial Secretary () is the title held by the Hong Kong government minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters (“Department of Finance” per Article 60 of the Basic Law). The position is among the three most sen ...

and Puisne Judge of Supreme Court of the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

. Smith was born in

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

, China in 1858 to Rev. Smauel Joseph Smith of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

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 ...

. He attended the Wesleyan College as a boarding pupil in 1871. He was appointed a Hong Kong cadet in 1882. He was called to the bar at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in November 1893 and served as acting Registrar-General in 1895. He was Police Magistrate in 1899 and 1907. He left Hong Kong in 1907. He was appointed

from 1897 to 1898. He was acting Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong in 1898. In 1874 he was secretary to the Retrenchment Committee, and assisted the Attorney-General in the Taipingshan Arbitration. Smith became a Puisne Judge in 1904 and later served in the judiciary of

Federated Malay States )Under God's Protection , capital = Kuala Lumpur1 , religion = Islam , legislature = Federal Legislative Council , type_house1 = State level , common_languages = , title_leader = Monarch , leader1 ...

where he presided over Proudlock murder trial in 1911. He retired as Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of the

. He was also a cricketer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Thomas Sercombe 1858 births 1937 deaths Financial secretaries of Hong Kong Straits Settlements judges Federated Malay States judges