Gerard Smith (governor)

Sir Gerard Smith ( born December 12, 1839 in London, England; † October 28, 1920 ) was a member of the British House of Commons, and Governor of Western Australia.

Life

Smith was born in 1839 as son of Martin Tucker Smith, a politician, banker and director of the East India Company, and his wife Louisa. After studying at Eton College, he joined the British Army and served in Canada. In 1871 he married Isabella Chatelaine Hamilton. After he retired in 1874 with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army, he took a position in the banking house of the father, Samuel Smith, Bros & Co.. From 1883-85 he was the Liberal Party member of the British House of Commons.

In 1895 he was appointed Governor of Western Australia and was released in December of the same year in Perth. During his tenure, a gold rush began in the areas around Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. Smith invested itself in investments and speculative transactions in the environment of the Gold Rush, which he eventually proved fatal. In 1899 he was sentenced by a court to have abused his position as governor to influence stock prices of companies in which he himself was involved.

In May 1900 Smith left Perth. In the following years he worked as a manager of several mutual funds as well as the Brazilian São Paulo Railway Co. In 1920 he died in London.

Awards

  • Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (1895 )

Swell

  • F. K. Crowley: Smith, Sir Gerard ( 1839-1920 ). In: Douglas Pike ( ed.) Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria 1966 ff (English)

Stirling | Hutt | Clarke | Irwin | Fitzgerald | Kennedy | Hampton | Pine | Weld | Robinson | Ord | Robinson | Broome | Robinson | Smith (1895-1900) | 6th Baron Wenlock | Bedford | 1st Baron Strickland | Barron | Ellison - Macartney | Newdegate | Campion | Mitchell | Gairdner | Kendrew | Edwards | Kyle | Trowbridge | Reid | Burt | Jeffery | Sanderson | Malcolm | Michael | McCusker

  • Governor (Western Australia)
  • Man
  • Briton
  • Member of the House of Commons (England)
  • Born in 1839
  • Died in 1920
  • Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
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