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Worthington George Smith (25 March 1835 – 27 October 1917) was an English
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
and
illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...
,
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
,
plant pathologist Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungus, fung ...
, and
mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...
.


Background and career

Worthington G. Smith was born in
Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...
, London, the son of a
civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
. He received an elementary education at a local school and was then apprenticed as an architect. He married Henrietta White in 1856 and the couple had seven children, only three of whom survived childhood.''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' http://www.oxforddnb.com Smith worked for the architect Sir Horace Jones, becoming an expert draughtsman and a member of the Architectural Association.Bedfordshire Libraries: Worthington George Smith http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/webingres/bedfordshire/vlib/0.digitised_resources/dunstable_digitisation_people_smith_about.htm In 1861, however, he left the profession (having been required to design drains for Sir Horace) and embarked on a second career as a freelance illustrator. He put his former experience to use by producing illustrations for '' The Builder'' (a journal still published today) and continued as a regular contributor for the next twenty years.


Botany and horticulture

Smith had an interest in natural history and gardening, and gradually developed a reputation as a botanical illustrator. His work appeared in the '' Gardeners' Chronicle'' and in 1869 he became its chief illustrator, retaining this position for the next 40 years.Ainsworth, G.C. (1996). ''Brief biographies of British mycologists''. Stourbridge: British Mycological Society He also contributed illustrations to the '' Journal of Horticulture'' and other periodicals. In 1880, he co-authored ''Illustrations of the British Flora'' with the noted botanical illustrator
Walter Hood Fitch Walter Hood Fitch (28 February 1817 – 1892) was a botanical illustrator, born in Glasgow, Scotland, who executed some 10,000 drawings for various publications. His work in colour lithograph, including 2700 illustrations for ''Curtis's Bot ...
.


Mycology and plant pathology

Worthington G. Smith's particular expertise was in fungi, which he collected, studied, and illustrated. He published extensively, writing over 200 articles and papers, as well as several books. His first major work in 1867 was to produce coloured illustrations of poisonous and edible fungi, printed in linen-backed poster format with an accompanying booklet. He published ''Clavis Agaricinorum'' (a key to British agarics) in 1870, wrote a popular book on mushrooms and toadstools in 1879, illustrated Stevenson's ''Hymenomycetes Britannici'' in 1886, and produced a supplement to M.J. Berkeley's ''Outlines of British Fungology'' in 1891. In 1875, Smith published a paper describing and illustrating the overwintering spores of '' Phytophthora infestans'', the causal agent of late blight of potatoes, the disease responsible for the Great Famine of Ireland. For this he was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Knightian gold medal. The German mycologist Anton de Bary pointed out that Smith had actually described some contaminating spores, but national pride upheld Smith's reputation as a plant pathologist and he was appointed to several governmental commissions on plant diseases, as well as publishing a book on the subject in 1884. He restored Sowerby's clay models of fungal fruitbodies displayed at the Natural History Museum and in 1898 wrote a successful short guide to them (later revised and reissued by John Ramsbottom). In 1908, he also wrote a "descriptive catalogue" of the specimens and drawings of the British bbasidiomycetes held at the museum. Worthington G. Smith was the first mycologist to lead a fungus foray. In 1868 he was invited by the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club to be the expert leader of a field meeting dubbed "a foray among the funguses". This was so successful that the club held annual "forays" for the next 24 years. Smith helped publicize the club and its forays with a series of cartoons in various journals, some of them caricaturing the leading mycologists of the day. He also designed illustrated menus in similar style for the club's annual fungus dinners at the Green Dragon in
Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...
. Smith became an honorary member of the club and in 1874, as a token of appreciation, was presented with a set of cutlery engraved with fungi taken from his illustrations. In 1896 Worthington G. Smith became a founder member of the British Mycological Society and was elected its President in 1904. He was also a Fellow of the Linnean Society. Smith's reputation as a mycologist and plant pathologist has been overshadowed by the more lasting achievements of his contemporaries. His book on plant diseases was said to have been "out of touch" when published and C.G. Lloyd claimed his ''Synopsis of the British'' Basidiomycetes resembled "an attempt by someone living in the Sahara to write a book about a rain forest." Many of the new fungal species described by Smith have been relegated to synonymy, though those that remain current include the agaric ''Leucoagaricus georginae'' (W.G. Sm.) Candusso and the bolete ''Rubinoboletus rubinus'' (W.G. Sm.) Pilát & Dermek. Smith's collections are now held in the mycological
herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...
at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The species ''Agaricus worthingtonii'' Fr., ''Clitopilus smithii'' Massee, and ''Geastrum smithii'' Lloyd were named after him.


Archaeology

Worthington G. Smith's reputation as an archaeologist, specializing in the palaeolithic era, has grown rather than diminished. Of the five Lower Palaeolithic occupation sites known from Britain, four were discovered by Smith. He became interested in the subject after reading Sir John Evans's ''Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain'' (1872). In 1878 he found stone tools in building excavations at
Stoke Newington Common Stoke Newington Common is an open space in the London Borough of Hackney. It lies between Brooke Road to the south and Northwold Road to the north, straddling a railway line and the busy Rectory Road. The Common is in area. The Common was orig ...
and traced the tool-bearing layer over a wide area of north-east London. He discovered a similar site at Caddington, Bedfordshire, and published his findings in ''Man, the Primeval Savage'' (1894). He subsequently found further sites at Whipsnade and elsewhere, as well as making other archaeological discoveries in the Bedfordshire area. Between 1887 and 1890, Smith acted as an assistant to Stephen Williams on his excavation in Mid-Wales on the
Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
Abbeys at Strata Florida, Strata Marcella and
Abbey Cwmhir Abbeycwmhir or Abbey Cwmhir ( cy, Abaty Cwm Hir, "Abbey in the Long Valley") is a village and community in the valley of the Nant Clywedog in Radnorshire, Powys, Wales. The community includes the hamlet of Bwlch-y-sarnau. The Abbey The vill ...
. He undertook the surveying on these sites and drawing the finds for publication. Smith also attended the summer meetings of the
Cambrian Archaeological Association The Cambrian Archaeological Association ( cy, Cymdeithas Hynafiaethau Cymru) was founded in 1846 to examine, preserve and illustrate the ancient monuments and remains of the history, language, manners, customs, arts and industries of Wales and the ...
regularly between 1875 and 1895."Williams", pg 8 Smith became the local county secretary for the Society of Antiquaries in 1897. In 1902 he was awarded a civil-list pension of £50 per annum "for services to archaeology" on the recommendation of
Lord Avebury Baron Avebury, of Avebury in the County of Wiltshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created 22 January 1900 for the banker, politician and archaeologist John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet. He ...
and Sir John Evans. The items he discovered are now dispersed, but some of his collections are held at the British Museum, Luton Museum, and the
Museum of London The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...
.


A freeman of Dunstable

For reasons of health, Smith moved to his wife's home town of Dunstable, Bedfordshire, in 1884. There, he not only pursued his mycological and archaeological interests, but also investigated the history of the town. Amongst other things, he discovered and translated the charter granted to the town by King Henry I. As a result of his researches, he wrote an extensive book called ''Dunstable, its history and surroundings'', published in 1904 and reprinted in 1980. In 1903 he became the first freeman of the borough of Dunstable, "in appreciation of the eminent services rendered to his country in connection with his profession, and his munificent gifts to the Corporation".


Selected works

*''Mushrooms and Toadstools: How to distinguish easily the differences between the Edible and Poisonous Fungi'' (David Brogue, 1879). *''Diseases of field and garden crops''. (Macmillan, 1884) *''Outlines of British fungology: Supplement''. (Reeve, 1891) *''Man, the primeval savage; his haunts and relics from the hilltops of Bedfordshire to Blackwall''. (E. Stanford, 1894) *''Guide to Sowerby's models of British fungi in the Department of Botany, British Museum (Natural History)''. (British Museum, 1898) *''Dunstable: The downs and the district: A handbook for visitors''. (The Homeland Association, 1904)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Worthington G. Botanists with author abbreviations English illustrators British phytopathologists English mycologists English archaeologists Members of the Cambrian Archaeological Association Fellows of the Linnean Society of London 1835 births 1917 deaths People from Shoreditch Veitch Memorial Medal recipients