George Smith | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Victoria | |
 | |
| Diocese | Victoria (Hong Kong) |
| In office | 1849–1865 (retired) |
| Successor | Charles Alford |
| Other posts | Warden,St Paul's Missionary College, Hong Kong |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1839 (deacon); 1840 (priest) |
| Consecration | 29 May 1849 by John Bird Sumner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1815-06-19)19 June 1815 Wellington, Somerset, Great Britain |
| Died | 14 December 1871(1871-12-14) (aged 56) Blackheath, Kent, Great Britain |
| Denomination | Anglican |
George Smith (Chinese:施美夫; 19 June 1815 – 14 December 1871) was a missionary in China and theBishop of Victoria (theAnglican bishop in Hong Kong) from 1849 to 1865, the first of this newly establisheddiocese.
Smith was born inWellington, Somerset on 19 June 1815. He obtained aBachelor of Arts (BA) in classics fromMagdalen Hall, Oxford in 1837 (and aMaster of Arts {MA Cantab} in 1843 andDoctor of Divinity {DD} in 1849) and was ordained in theChurch of England. He was made deacon on 20 October 1839 byGeorge Davys,Bishop of Peterborough and ordained priest in July 1840 byCharles Longley,Bishop of Ripon.[1] He rapidly became involved in theChurch Missionary Society and he and fellow priest Thomas McClatchie arrived inShanghai on 25 September 1844 to establish a mission.[2] Poor health forced an early return to England, but Smith'sNarrative of his period in China was published in 1847.
Smith worked hard to raise money for further missionary work in China, and in 1849 was made bishop of the new diocese ofVictoria, Hong Kong and warden of the newly founded St Paul's Missionary College (seeSt Paul's College). He was consecrated a bishop on 29 May 1849 atCanterbury Cathedral,[3] byJohn Bird Sumner,Archbishop of Canterbury.[4] With his new wife Lydia,née Brandram, Smith arrived in Hong Kong on 29 March 1850 and threw himself into missionary and educational work. He learnedMandarin, becoming sufficiently fluent to conduct services in it.
Smith was also responsible for missionary work in China and Japan. A weak constitution limited this work, but he nevertheless visited Japan (1860), theRyukyu islands (1850),India andCeylon (1852–1853), Australia (1859), and elsewhere, partly to work for emigrants from China.
Smith had a misinformed sympathy on religious grounds for theTaiping rebel movement in the neighbouring Chinese Empire. In 1853 he wrote in letter to Archbishop Sumner: "The rebel chiefs profess to believe in Protestant Christianity; declare that they are commissioned by the Almighty to spread the knowledge of the one true God; have everywhere shown a determination to destroy idolatry of every kind; and now profess to await a further revelation of the divine will, ere they advance upon the northern capitalPeking".[5] He was still sympathetic as late as 1863, when he protested to the Foreign Secretary (thenEarl Russell), without checking his facts, over Hong Kong newspaper reports on the killing of Taiping prisoners in Taintsan by followers of theEver Victorious Army who were under command ofCharles George Gordon (but done without his knowledge).[6] At that stage he considered the Taiping sincere if somewhat heretical Christians, and he was supported by a strong lobby of merchants in Hong Kong who profited from supplying the rebels.[6]
Smith left Hong Kong for the last time in 1864, retiring from the bishopric early the next year.[7] He had arrived back in Britain bySt Peter's Day (29 June 1864), when he presentedCharles Bromby for consecration as a bishop atCanterbury Cathedral.[8] Over the following years, he occasionally assisted successiveBishops of Winchester (Sumner andWilberforce at least) in north Surrey (what is now South London).[9] He died in his house atBlackheath (then inKent, now in Greater London), on 14 December 1871 after a short illness.
| Religious titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| New diocese | Bishop of Victoria 1849–1865 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by Vincent John Stanton Founder | Principal and Warden ofSt Paul's College 1851–1864 | Succeeded by |
