Memoir of the late Alfred Smee, F.R.S. / by his daughter ; with a selection from his miscellaneous writings.

  • E. M. O. (Elizabeth Mary Odling)
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoir of the late Alfred Smee, F.R.S. / by his daughter ; with a selection from his miscellaneous writings. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    my grandfather would have had a good government appoint- ment given to him; however, that was not to be, and so William Smee entered the service of the Bank of England. He, like his grandfather, bore a high character for integrity; and that, coupled with uncommon talents and an iron will, made him re- spected and esteemed throughout the mercantile community of the City of London. On his death a long resolution was passed at the Court of Directors of the Bank of England, testifying to the “ high integrity of his character and his indefatigable exer- tions ” in the discharge of his duties, and to the high esteem in which he was held by all who knew him. Some years previously the directors wished him to become a member of their body, hut my grandfather declined this honour; and when the time for the election drew near, he disqualified himself from becoming a director by withdrawing certain sums of money from the Bank stock, and so remained in his old position. Whether he acted in this case wisely may, I think, he considered an open question. When William Smee was between thirty and forty years of age, he married a young Suffolk lady of the name of Bay, and she was ever to him a wise, frugal, and an intelligent companion. For several years they resided in a house of their own at Cam- berwell, and it was here, amidst fields and trees and orchards (for Camberwell fifty-eight years ago was very different to the Camberwell of the present day), that Alfred Smee was horn, and spent the first few years of his life. As a child, Alfred Smee was singularly precocious, and, like many precocious children, gave, as my grandmother used to say, a great deal of trouble to his nurse; indeed, that unfortunate attendant must have had a very hard time of it, if the various anecdotes that my grandmother was wont to tell about this madcap boy are to be credited. From his earliest years Alfred Smee had an inordinate love for fruit, to obtain which he would but too frequently rise with the sun, and, eluding the vigilance of the servants, stroll into the garden, climb the trees, and satisfy himself to his heart’s content. One day, as my grandfather was walking in his garden, his attention was attracted to a peach-tree full of fruit, which was just ripe. To his dismay a small piece was bitten out of every peach, and all the fruit bore unmistakable signs of a child’s teeth. Little Alfred, who was by his side at the time, and who was then about four years old, could not forbear inquiring into the fact whether snails have teeth. Besides an excessive love for fruit,