George Adam Smith

The Very Reverend Sir George Adam Smith, FRSE, FBA (19 October 1856 – 3 March 1942) was a Scottish theologian.

Note in particular that this George Smith is to be distinguished from George Smith (Assyriologist) (18401876) who researched in some overlapping areas.
Rev George Adam Smith in 1895
Queen's Cross Church, Aberdeen
The grave of George Adam Smith, Currie Churchyard

Life

He was born in Calcutta, where his father, George Smith, C.I.E., was then Principal of the Doveton College, a boys' school in Madras. His mother was Janet Colquhoun Smith (née Adam).[1] By 1870 the family had returned to Scotland and were living at Scagore House in Seafield, Edinburgh.

He was educated at Edinburgh in the Royal High School.

He then studied Divinity at the University of Edinburgh and the New College, graduating MA in 1875.

After studying for summer semesters as a postgraduate at the University of Tübingen (1876) and the University of Leipzig (1878) and travelling in Egypt and Syria. He was ordained into the Free Church of Scotland in 1882 and served at the Queen's Cross Free Church in Aberdeen.[2]

In 1892 he was appointed Professor of Hebrew[3] and Old Testament subjects in the Free Church College at Glasgow. In 1900 (at its creation) he moved from the Free Church of Scotland to the United Free Church of Scotland.[4]

In 1909 he was appointed Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, a post he held until his retirement in 1935. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1916, and was knighted in the same year.[5]

He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Free Church of Scotland in 1916-17.[6] In 1917 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were John Horne, Cargill Gilston Knott, Ben Peach and John Sutherland Black.[7]

He was appointed a Chaplain-in-Ordinary to King George V in 1933,[8] and reappointed by King Edward VIII[9] and King George VI.[10]

From 1924 to 1938 he was Patron of the Seven Incorporated Trades of Aberdeen.[11]

He died at home, "Sweethillocks" in Balerno south-west of Edinburgh on 3 March 1942. He is buried with his wife and children in the north-east corner of Currie Cemetery in south-west Edinburgh.

Publications


Most of his papers are held in the National Library of Scotland, in Edinburgh.[12]

  • The Book of Isaiah (2 vols)
  • The Book of the Twelve Prophets (2 vols)
  • Modern Criticism and Preaching of the Old Testament
  • The Forgiveness of Sins
  • Four Psalms
  • The Life of Henry Drummond

His Atlas of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land (HGHL), published in London in 1915, remains a standard reference book until today.

Family

In 1889 he married Alice Lillian Buchanan (1866-1949), daughter of Sir George Buchanan MD FRS.[13] They had seven children:

Works

Bibliography

  • Iain D. Campbell, Fixing the Indemnity: The Life and Work of Sir George Adam Smith (1856-1942) (Carlyle, Paternoster Press, 2004) (Paternoster Theological Monographs - PTM).

References

  1. http://genealogy.links.org/links-cgi/readged?/home/ben/camilla-genealogy/current+!0:156598+2-2-0-1-0
  2. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  3. Bruce, Alexander Balmain (1896). "The Rev. George Adam Smith, D.D., Professor of Hebrew in the Free Church College, Glasgow, Scotland". The Biblical World. 8 (1): 1–7. JSTOR 3140304.
  4. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  5. "No. 29483". The London Gazette. 22 February 1916. pp. 1946–1947.
  6. These facts of his life are largely drawn from S.A. Cook,'George Adam Smith 1856-1942', Proceedings of the British Academy, vol.xxviii (London: Oxford University Press).
  7. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
  8. "No. 33983". The London Gazette. 3 October 1933. p. 6351.
  9. "No. 34306". The London Gazette. 20 July 1936. p. 4665.
  10. "No. 34376". The London Gazette. 2 March 1937. p. 1407.
  11. http://www.seventradesofaberdeen.co.uk/patrons-over-the-years/#
  12. For the inventory of George Adam Smith's papers, see http://www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/cnmi/inventories/acc9446.pdf.
  13. http://www.glasgowwestaddress.co.uk/1909_Glasgow_Men/Smith_Rev_George_Adam.htm
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