Author: Smith, George Henry
Biography:
SMITH, George Henry (fl 1824)
George Henry Smith, “late of the Theatre-Royal, Bath,” published what he refers to as his “novitiate verses” by subscription in Bath in 1824. No reviews have been found and no later publications are associated with him although he was an ambitious author and given that his subscribers must for the most part have known him, this does appear to have been his real name, not a stage name. He had evidently been touring as an actor. The subscription list includes many theatre people—Mrs. Siddons among them—and many theatres (three Theatres Royal in London plus others in Bath, Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh, and York). A Mrs. Smith of Colchester subscribed for six copies: it is possible that she was the mother to whom he addressed some vaguely remorseful lines, or at least a near relative. A poem about the portrait of his father indicates that he had died. The Duke of Gordon and the Duchess of Buccleugh subscribed, as did Thomas Moore (q.v.) and his wife. Smith had had a gentleman’s education. The contents include imitations of Latin and Italian authors; some titles and many epigraphs are in Greek or Latin. His name is distinctive enough to raise hopes for firm identification, but public records lead either to very prominent figures with a similar name or to manual labourers. He cannot have been either the colonial governor Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith (1787-1860) or the MP for Colchester Sir George Henry Smyth of Berechurch Hall (1784-1852). More work is needed. (ancestry.com 4 Nov. 2024; findmypast.com 4 Nov. 2024; ODNB 4 Nov. 2024 [Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith]; historyofparliamentonline.org) HJ