Worthington George Smith (25 March 1835 – 27 October 1917) was an Englishcartoonist andillustrator,archaeologist,plant pathologist, andmycologist.
Worthington G. Smith was born inShoreditch, London, the son of acivil servant. He received an elementary education at a local school and was then apprenticed as an architect. He married Henrietta White in 1856 and the couple had seven children, only three of whom survived childhood.[1]
Smith worked for the architectSir Horace Jones, becoming an expert draughtsman and a member of theArchitectural Association.[2] In 1861, however, he left the profession (having been required to design drains for Sir Horace) and embarked on a second career as a freelance illustrator. He put his former experience to use by producing illustrations forThe Builder (a journal still published today) and continued as a regular contributor for the next twenty years.
In 1878, he described himself thus:[3]
the writer of these lines never had any teacher, either artistic or scientific, other than he always found supplied to him by close observation, careful reading, experience, and constant perseverance.
Smith had an interest in natural history and gardening, and gradually developed a reputation as a botanical illustrator. His work appeared in theGardeners' Chronicle and in 1869 he became its chief illustrator, retaining this position for the next 40 years.[4] He also contributed illustrations to theJournal of Horticulture and other periodicals.
In 1880, he co-authoredIllustrations of the British Flora with the noted botanical illustratorWalter Hood Fitch.[5]
Worthington G. Smith's particular expertise was infungi, which he collected, studied, and illustrated. He published extensively, writing over 200 articles and papers, as well as several books. His first major work in 1867 was to produce coloured illustrations of poisonous and edible fungi, printed in linen-backed poster format with an accompanying booklet.[6] He publishedClavis Agaricinorum (a key to Britishagarics) in 1870, wrote a popular book on mushrooms and toadstools in 1879, illustratedStevenson'sHymenomycetes Britannici in 1886, and produced a supplement toM.J. Berkeley'sOutlines of British Fungology in 1891.[4][7]
In 1875, Smith published a paper describing and illustrating the overwinteringspores ofPhytophthora infestans, the causal agent of late blight of potatoes, the disease responsible for theGreat Famine of Ireland.[8] For this he was awarded theRoyal Horticultural Society's Knightian gold medal. The German mycologistAnton de Bary pointed out that Smith had actually described some contaminating spores, but national pride upheld Smith's reputation as a plant pathologist and he was appointed to several governmental commissions on plant diseases,[1] as well as publishing a book on the subject in 1884.[9]
He restoredSowerby's clay models of fungal fruitbodies displayed at theNatural History Museum and in 1898 wrote a successful short guide to them[10] (later revised and reissued byJohn Ramsbottom). In 1908, he also wrote a "descriptive catalogue" of the specimens and drawings of the Britishbasidiomycetes held at the museum.[11]
Worthington G. Smith was the first mycologist to lead a fungus foray. In 1868 he was invited by theWoolhope Naturalists' Field Club to be the expert leader of a field meeting dubbed "a foray among the funguses". This was so successful that the club held annual "forays" for the next 24 years. Smith helped publicize the club and its forays with a series of cartoons in various journals, some of them caricaturing the leading mycologists of the day. He also designed illustrated menus in similar style for the club's annual fungus dinners at the Green Dragon inHereford. Smith became an honorary member of the club and in 1874, as a token of appreciation, was presented with a set of cutlery engraved with fungi taken from his illustrations. In 1896 Worthington G. Smith became a founder member of theBritish Mycological Society and was elected its President in 1904.[4] He was also a Fellow of theLinnean Society.
Smith's reputation as a mycologist and plant pathologist has been overshadowed by the more lasting achievements of his contemporaries.[1] His book on plant diseases was said to have been "out of touch" when published[4] andC.G. Lloyd claimed hisSynopsis of the British Basidiomycetes resembled "an attempt by someone living in the Sahara to write a book about a rain forest."[12] Many of the new fungal species described by Smith have been relegated to synonymy, though those that remain current include the agaricLeucoagaricus georginae (W.G. Sm.) Candusso and the boleteRubinoboletus rubinus (W.G. Sm.) Pilát & Dermek.[13] Smith's collections are now held in the mycologicalherbarium at theRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The speciesAgaricus worthingtonii Fr.,Clitopilus smithii Massee, andGeastrum smithii Lloyd were named after him.[14]
Worthington G. Smith's reputation as an archaeologist, specializing in thepalaeolithic era, has grown rather than diminished.[15] Of the fiveLower Palaeolithic occupation sites known from Britain, four were discovered by Smith. He became interested in the subject after readingSir John Evans'sAncient Stone Implements of Great Britain (1872). In 1878 he found stone tools in building excavations atStoke Newington Common and traced the tool-bearing layer over a wide area of north-east London. He discovered a similar site atCaddington,Bedfordshire, and published his findings inMan, the Primeval Savage (1894). He subsequently found further sites atWhipsnade and elsewhere, as well as making other archaeological discoveries in the Bedfordshire area.[1][16]
Between 1887 and 1890, Smith acted as an assistant toStephen Williams on his excavation in Mid-Wales on theCistercian Abbeys atStrata Florida,Strata Marcella andAbbey Cwmhir. He undertook the surveying on these sites and drawing the finds for publication.[17] Smith also attended the summer meetings of theCambrian Archaeological Association regularly between 1875 and 1895.[18]
Smith became the local county secretary for theSociety of Antiquaries in 1897.[2] In 1902 he was awarded acivil-list pension of £50 per annum "for services to archaeology" on the recommendation ofLord Avebury and Sir John Evans.[1] The items he discovered are now dispersed, but some of his collections are held at theBritish Museum,Luton Museum, and theMuseum of London.
For reasons of health, Smith moved to his wife's home town ofDunstable, Bedfordshire, in 1884. There, he not only pursued his mycological and archaeological interests, but also investigated the history of the town. Amongst other things, he discovered and translated the charter granted to the town byKing Henry I. As a result of his researches, he wrote an extensive book calledDunstable, its history and surroundings, published in 1904 and reprinted in 1980. In 1903 he became the firstfreeman of the borough of Dunstable, "in appreciation of the eminent services rendered to his country in connection with his profession, and his munificent gifts to the Corporation".[1]
