Henry Babington Smith

Sir Henry Babington Smith
CSI
Sir Henry Babington Smith CSI
President of the National Bank of Turkey
	In office; 1909–1915
Secretary to the General Post Office
	In office; 1903–1909
Chairman of the Caisse de la Dette Publique
	In office; 1901–1903
Personal details
Born	29 January 1863; Riverbank, Putney, London, England
Died	29 September 1923 (aged 60)
Occupation	Civil servant

Sir Henry Babington Smith

CSI (29 January 1863 – 29 September 1923) was a senior British civil servant, who served in a wide range of posts overseas, mostly financial, before becoming a director of the Bank of England. He was related to the Babington family through his maternal grandmother Mary, a daughter of Thomas Babington, and his children took the double surname

Babington Smith.

Early life and education

Smith was born at Riverbank, Putney, London on 29 February 1863,

Cambridge Apostle

.

Career

In 1887 he joined the

Board of Education as an examiner, but in 1891 became principal private secretary to the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Goschen

.

In 1894 he became private secretary to

Companion of the Order of the Star of India

(CSI) in 1897.

He returned to Britain in 1899 and was immediately sent to

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath

(KCB) in 1908.

In 1909, he went to

Governor of Bombay, one of the most prestigious posts in the administration of India, because it was usually accompanied by a peerage. Smith explained to his children: "[n]o man is wise who burdens a large family with such trappings. I did without them and so can you."^[3]

The

Minister Plenipotentiary

.

After the war, he chaired the Indian Finance and Currency Committee in 1919 and the Railway Amalgamation Tribunal in 1921. He was appointed a director of the Bank of England in 1920.

Smith was appointed

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours for his services in the United States.^[4]

Family

Babington Smith married Lady Elizabeth Bruce (1877–1944), the eldest daughter of Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin, the Viceroy of India. They had four sons and five daughters:

Michael Babington Smith (1901–1984): Brigadier, CBE, TD
Henry Babington Smith (1902–1982)
Bernard Babington Smith (1905–1993): OBE
Margaret Babington Smith 1907–1997), married Charles de Bunsen
David Babington Smith (1909–1989)
Lucy Babington Smith (1910–2005), married Henry Sinclair, 2nd Baron Pentland
Constance Babington Smith (1912–2000): MBE, Legion of Merit^[5]
Susan Babington Smith (1917–2003), married Sir Anthony Wakefield Cox
Elizabeth Babington Smith (1921–2008): MD, FFARCS, married to Reece Lloyd-Jones

The family home was Chinthurst, in Wonersh, and later Vineyards, in Saffron Waldren.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Henry Babington Smith

16. John Smith of Craigend

8. Archibald Smith of Jordanhill

17. Jane Duncan

4.

Archibald Smith of Jordanhill

20. Alexander Wilson

10. Alexander Wilson

21.

5. Mary Wilson

22.

11.

23.

1. Sir Henry Babington Smith

24.

12. Charles Stuart Parker

25.

6. Sir James Parker

26.

13. Mary Rainey

27.

3. Susan Emma Parker

28. Thomas Babington of Rothley Temple

14. Thomas Babington of Rothley Temple

29. Lydia Cardale

7. Mary Babington

30. Rev. John Macaulay

15. Jean Macaulay

31. Margaret Campbell

Footnotes

^ Sir Henry Babington Smith, G.B.E, C.H.M, K.C.B., C.S.I, M.A., 1863-1923, Civil Servant & Financier, by George H Bushnell, St Andrews, 1942, p13, privately printed for the Lady Elisabeth Babington Smith
^ "Smith, Henry Babington (SMT882HB)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press
.

^ "No. 31840". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 March 1920. p. 3758.
ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8
, retrieved 18 December 2022

References

Obituary, The Times, 1 October 1923

"Here be Forebears – The Ancestry of Archibald Smith II of Jordanhill", H.E. Babington Smith, 1997

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Babington_Smith&oldid=1201252831"

[1] Sir Henry Babington Smith, G.B.E, C.H.M, K.C.B., C.S.I, M.A., 1863-1923, Civil Servant & Financier, by George H Bushnell, St Andrews, 1942, p13, privately printed for the Lady Elisabeth Babington Smith

[2] "Smith, Henry Babington (SMT882HB)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

[:0-3] 
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press
.

[4] "No. 31840". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 March 1920. p. 3758.

[5] ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8
, retrieved 18 December 2022

[3]

[4]

[5]