Swire Smith
Sir Swire Smith (4 March 1842 – 16 March 1918) was an English
Family and education
Swire Smith was born in Keighley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the eldest son of George Smith and his wife Mary (née Swire).[1] He was educated at the local National School in Keighley and at Wesley College, Sheffield.[2] He never married.[3]
Career
Early career
On leaving school Smith served an apprenticeship with a Keighley worsted manufacturer. He soon began to develop his interest in education however and at the age of 24, was appointed honorary secretary to the building committee of the Keighley Institute, a society the object of which was "Mutual Instruction in Mechanics, Experimental Philosophy and Mathematics" which later became the Keighley Boy's Grammar School.[4] He was prominent in the reorganisation of the institute and was largely responsible for the school's gaining in notability.[5]
Technical education
Smith became an expert in the area of
Wool trade and other business
Smith also developed a career in the wool trade. He became a mill owner[12] and rose to be a senior partner of a worsted spinning concern in Keighley.[5] He was sometime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers.[13] Less successfully however he was also a director of the Land Mortgage Bank of Florida[14] but the bank failed and was liquidated.[15]
Politics
Smith was a
Other appointments and honours
Smith was
Keighley Library
Through his friendship with the Scottish-American philanthropist
Death
Smith died of congestion of the lungs on 16 March 1918 in a London nursing home after a minor operation on his prostate gland, at the age of 76.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-954089-1.
- ^ Asa Briggs, Sir Swire Smith in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, OUP 2004-09
- OCLC 12030485.
- ^ "Keighley Boy's Grammar School: Early History". Keighley Boy's Grammar School. Archived from the original on 8 September 2008. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
- ^ a b c d The Times, 18 March 1918 p5
- OCLC 12030485.
- ^ The Times, 22 January 1884 p7
- ^ New York Times, 19 March 1918
- ^ The Times, 27 August 1881 p4
- ^ The Times, 13 April 1898 p5
- ^ The Times, 16 June 1897 p13
- OCLC 12030485.
- ^ The Times, 28 July 1914 p5
- ^ The Times, 27 October 1892 p11
- ^ a b c d Briggs, DNB
- OCLC 12030485.
- OCLC 12030485.
- ^ The Times, 6 July 1915 p6
- ^ The Times, 21 May 1898 p12
- OCLC 34335173.
- ^ The Times, 24 March 1909 p6
- ^ The Times, 12 July 1912 p9
- ^ The Times, 24 September 1912 p8
- ^ "Swire Smith Middle School". Archived from the original on 13 January 2010. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
- ^ "K100 - Keighley Public Library Centenary Year 2004". Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
- ^ The Times, 21 March 1918 p3
External links
- The Master Spinner Text of the biography of Sir Swire Smith by J. Keighley Snowden published in 1921.