Architects

Name:

William Smith II

Designation :

Architect

Date of Birth:

Exact Date

Exact DOB:

16/09/1817

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Date of Death:

Exact Date

Exact DOD:

22/12/1891

Year of Death:

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Bio Notes :

William Smith II was the fourth of John Smith and Margaret Grant's eight children, born 16 September 1817. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and at Marischal College where he graduated MA. During that period he studied sketching and watercolour under James Giles. Thereafter he was articled to his father, working alongside Robert Kerr, the future Professor of Architecture at King's College in London. Smith subsequently spent eighteen months in London as assistant to Thomas Leverton Donaldson in whose office he had the opportunity to study the extensive library and classical antiquities that the latter had collected. He may have attended Donaldson's classes at University College as he was admitted ARIBA on 25 July 1842, his proposers being Donaldson, Samuel Angell and George Bailey. At that date he appears to have been back in Aberdeen, but shortly thereafter he embarked on a tour of Italy and of Greece which lasted almost two years. He returned to his father's office as senior assistant and became his partner in 1845. This enabled him to marry on 2 July 1846 Mary Blaikie, born 27 September 1826 and one of the five children of Dr Patrick Blaikie RN who came of a prominent family of ironmasters in Aberdeen, Blaikie Brothers. Family photographs show that she remained a beautiful woman in middle age. Smith's father having gone into semi-retirement at Rosebank, they set up house at 142 King Street.

William Smith's first major commission was Trinity Hall, Union Street, Aberdeen, in 1846. Its adaptation of neo-Tudor to granite attracted the attention of the Prince Consort who in 1848 commissioned J & W Smith to reconstruct and enlarge old Balmoral Castle to which the elder Smith had built an addition in 1834-39. That commission did not proceed beyond the sketch plan stage but when the commission extended to a completely new house in 1852 their appointment attracted the attention of William Burn. Recent research by Paul Bradley has shown that Burn obtained an interview with the Prince Consort, probably to complain that the elder Smith had unprofessionally displaced him at Robert Gordon's College and at Fintray and had plagiarised his designs at Menie and elsewhere. Smith nevertheless retained the confidence of the Prince Consort and the construction of the castle in 1853-59 was followed by other buildings on the estate. By 1852 he had also officially succeeded to his father's post as Superintendent of the Town's Works, having taken on increasing amounts of work in an unofficial capacity during his father's latter years of declining health.

William Smith and Mary Blaikie had sixteen children. All eight of their surviving children were sent to the University of Aberdeen. Only the eldest, John, born 5 July 1847 became an architect. John Smith II is said to have been of 'gentle disposition and retiring habits' and 'not a man of robust frame…his health was on the whole delicate'. He married Helen Elsmie Hall, daughter of John Hall, merchant and sister of the prominent Aberdeen advocate Harvey Hall, and was taken into partnership in or about 1880, the practice title becoming W & J Smith. Like William and Mary Smith before them, John and his wife set up house at 142 Great King Street. They had three sons and a surviving daughter who were aged 8, 6, 4 and 2 when John Smith died suddenly on 11 April 1887 after a long period of declining health, leaving 'absolutely no money at all'. When they grew up all three sons entered bank service since a university education could not be afforded, thus bringing the Smith dynasty of architects to a close. Shortly after John's death William Smith merged his practice with that of his former pupil William Kelly, the practice name now becoming W & J Smith & Kelly.

This partnership was dissolved just before William Smith died at 142 King Street on 22 December 1891, saddened not only by the death of his son but also by that of his wife who had predeceased him on 21 January 1883. During his short final illness he was cared for by his son Dr Patrick Blaikie Smith, later of San Remo. His moveable estate was a surprisingly modest £1026 5s 8d, although he may have owned some property beyond the houses and yard in King Street. In politics he was described as being conservative and he 'shrank from publicity…present day methods of gaining popularity were foreign to his disposition.' Principal Cooper described him as having a 'high bred courtesy' and 'a reticence to the point of shyness'. It was perhaps these qualities which lost him the commission for Aberdeen Sheriff Court in the limited competition of 1861 set up between himself, James Matthews and the Edinburgh practice of Peddie & Kinnear. That project subsequently grew into that for Aberdeen Municipal Buildings and was the major disappointment of his career. His interests outwith architecture were music, children and animals. Dogs figure importantly in family photographs and either he or his son of the same name appears to have been the author of a book entitled 'The uses and abuses of domestic animals'. None of his daughters married and they were said to have led a somewhat impoverished existence after his death, dependent on the support of their surviving brothers, all of whom had successful careers.

Bio Notes continued...

Additional Notes

The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:

Private Addresses2 classic

Address	Class	Date From Char	Date From Type	Date To Char	Date To Type	Notes
142 King Street Aberdeen Scotland	Private

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The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this person (click on an item to view details):

Employers2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
John Smith	201801	After 1830	Before 1844	Apprentice
Thomas Leverton Donaldson	200746	After 1835	Before 1844	Assistant
John Smith	201801	In year 1844	In year 1845	Senior Assistant
J & W Smith	200455	In year 1845	In year 1879	Partner
Aberdeen City Architect's Department (later City of Aberdeen District Council Architects Division)	204261	In year 1852	1891/12/22	Chief Architect	City Architect (Superintendent of the Town\'s Works). Death date given as date of termination
W & J Smith	202301	In year 1879	In year 1887	Senior Partner
W & J Smith and Kelly	202304	In year 1887	In year 1891	Partner

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The following individuals were employed or trained by this person (click on an item to view details):

Employees or Pupils2 classic

Name	Name Link	Date From	Date To	Position	Notes
(Sir) Andrew Thomas Taylor	202496	1870 or 1871	1871 or 1872	Assistant
John Melville Keith	201857	In year 1877	In year 1882	Apprentice

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The following individuals proposed this person for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):

RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic

Proposer	Proposer Link	Date Proposed	Notes
Thomas Leverton Donaldson	200746	1842/07/25	for Associateship
Samuel Angell	204425	1842/07/25	for Associateship
George Bailey	204426	1842/07/25	for Associateship

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This person was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs2 classic

Building Name	Date Started	Town, District or Village	City or County	Country	Notes
Forglen House	In year 1839	Forglen	Banffshire	Scotland	May also have been involved. Presumably also coachhouse and stables
New Deer School	In year 1844	New Deer	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	May be the architect with his father
Methlick Bridge over the River Ythan	In year 1844	Methlick	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	May have been involved
Haddo House	In year 1845	Haddo/Methlick	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Haddo House, Butler's Cottage, Gardener's Cottage and Laundry	In year 1845	Methlick	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	Laundry
Huntly Police Office Prison	In year 1845	Huntly	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Fraserburgh Prison	In year 1845	Fraserburgh	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Union Bank	After 1845		Aberdeen	Scotland	Addition to Marischal Street
Manse	c. 1845	Peterhead	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Leochel Cushnie Manse	c. 1845	Leochel Cushnie	Aberdeenshire	Scotland
Haddo Estate, Lodges	c. 1845	Haddo	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	'Probably' (HS)
Trinity Hall	In year 1846		Aberdeen	Scotland	Original building
Mains of Haddo, farmhouse and office	In year 1846	Haddo	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	If 1845 may be by Smith
Kincardine O'Neil Church	In year 1846	Kincardine O'Neil	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	Repairs
Tarland Manse	In year 1846	Tarland	Aberdeenshire	Scotland

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The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

Author	Title	Date	Publisher	Part	Notes
British Architectural Library, RIBA	Directory of British Architects 1834-1914	2001
Cooper, James	A sermon on the occasion of the death Mr William Smith, architect, Aberdeen	1892	Aberdeen

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The following periodicals contain references to this person:

Period ref classic

Periodical Name	Date Circ	Edition	Notes
Architect	1892/01/01	*	p15
Aberdeen Journal	1891/12/23	*	Obituary
Aberdeen Journal	1891/12/28	*	Obituary
The Times	1891/12/29	*	p5

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The following archives hold material relating to this person:

Arc ref classic

Archive Name	Source	Source Cat No	Notes
RIBA Nomination Papers	RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum	100005	A v1 p159 (microfiche 4/C7)
Archive of cuttings, notes and photos (bequeathed by Helen Hall Smith, 1990)	University of Aberdeen	200454
William Smith Family Bible	University of Aberdeen	200455

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Basic Biographic Details

Addresses

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

Employment and Training

Employers2 classic

Employees or Pupils

Employees or Pupils2 classic

RIBA Proposers

RIBA PROPOSERS2 classic

Buildings and Designs

Buildings and Designs2 classic

References

Bibliographic References

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Periodical References

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Archive References

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