Archibald Smith of JordanhillFRS FRSE (10 August 1813, inGreenhead,North Lanarkshire – 26 December 1872, in London) was a Scottish barrister and amateur mathematician.
He was the only son ofJames SmithFRSE (1782-1867), a wealthy merchant and antiquary and owner of theJordanhill estate inGlasgow,[1] and his wife Mary Wilson, granddaughter ofAlexander Wilson, professor of astronomy inGlasgow University (and brother ofPatrick Wilson). He was educated at theRedland School near Bristol from 1826 to 1828.
Archibald studied law at Glasgow University from 1828, and then atTrinity College, Cambridge, where he wasSenior Wrangler, said to be the first Scot to achieve this position,[1] and firstSmith's prizeman in 1836, elected a fellow of Trinity College.[2] He was one of the founders of theCambridge Mathematical Journal. He graduated BA in 1836 and MA in 1839.
He enteredLincoln's Inn, and was called to the bar as a barrister in 1841. He then practised as an equity draughtsman and property lawyer inLondon.
His scientific work was mainly in the field of applications ofmagnetism and theEarth's magnetic field. He obtained practical formulae for the correction of magnetic compass observations made on board ship, which General SirEdward Sabine published in theTransactions of the Royal Society: Smith later made convenient tables. In 1859 he editedWilliam Scoresby'sJournal of a Voyage to Australia for Magnetical Research and gave an exact formula for the effect of the iron of a ship on the compass. In 1862, in conjunction with the hydrographerSir Frederick John Owen Evans FRS (1815-1885), then superintendent of the compass department of the navy, he published anAdmiralty Manual for ascertaining and applying the Deviations of the Compass caused by the Iron in a Ship.[3]
He was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh in 1837 his proposer beingJames David Forbes.[4] Elected aFellow of the Royal Society in June 1856, he was awarded itsRoyal Medal in 1865 "for his papers in the Philosophical Transactions and elsewhere, on the magnetism of ships".[5] In 1866 EmperorAlexander II of Russia presented him with a gold compass, set in diamonds, and emblazoned with the Imperial Arms.
He died in London on 26 December 1872.
In 1853, Smith married Susan Emma Parker, daughter ofSir James Parker ofRothley Temple, Leicestershire, and MaryBabington. They had six sons and two daughters:
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