Guy Smith (bishop)
Guy Vernon Smith
Smith was educated at Winchester[2] and New College, Oxford. Following in the footsteps of his father, a King's Counsel, Smith was called to the Bar in 1905 but then decided on a career move from Law to the Church of England[2] He was ordained in 1907, was a curate in Romford and, from 1909 to 1911, was Chaplain of Oxford House, Bethnal Green. This was 'like a Christian Welfare Society' with 1500 men and 500 boys in clubs, open every night.[3] So began his long association with Arthur Winnington-Ingram, the dynamic Bishop of London. He became Resident Chaplain to the Bishop, and supported the Bishop noted for his jingoistic promotion of British commitment to the Great War.[4] Winnington-Ingram was a renowned preacher who attracted massive publicity, and he toured the Western Front in 1914 with Smith who wrote a book about the visit.[5] Smith himself then served on the Western Front with the Post Office Rifles, distinguishing himself at Bullecourt in June, 1917, winning a Military Cross - the citation for which read:[6]
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in accompanying a party of volunteers to get in some wounded men that had been lying out some days. He attached himself to the party that had the most dangerous task and greatly encouraged them by his personal example and fearlessness under heavy fire. He was the first to go out and the last to return, setting a splendid example of devotion to duty[7]
Smith caught
References
- ^ NPG details
- ^ ISBN 0-7136-3457-X
- ^ a b Unpublished autobiography of Vernon Smith held at Museum of Army Chaplaincy
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, OUP 2004, article by Jeremy Morris
- ^ 'Bishop of London's Visit to the Front' by G.V. Smith, Longman's 1915
- ^ 'What did you do in the Great War, Bishop?' by Tom Scherb, Stand To!, number 95, Western Front Association
- ^ London Gazette, 25 August 1917
- ISSN 0009-658X. Retrieved 24 September 2020 – via UK Press Online archives.
- ^ TNA PREM5/289
- ^ Lambeth Palace Library, Fisher Papers, 1946
- ^ Leicester Diocesan Chronicle, October 1956
- ^ "Plaque details". Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
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