William Henry Smith (1825–1891)

William Henry Smith PC ( * June 24, 1825 in London, † October 6, 1891 in Walmer Castle in Deal, Kent ) was a British politician and entrepreneur.

Life

William Henry Smith was born as the son of William Henry Smith (1792-1865), the owner of the books and magazine company WHSmith. He attended the Grammar School of Tavistock (Devon) and participated in 1846 at his father's business. With its use, the sale of books and newspapers at railway stations which led the company to great fame began.

1868 Smith was elected as a member of the Conservative MP for the House of Commons. An earlier attempt to be elected in 1865 as a liberal supporter of Palmerston in the Parliament failed. 1874 Smith was appointed Secretary to the Treasury ( Secretary to the Treasury). 1877 he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Lacking any military and maritime experience, he was often the butt of jokes; Benjamin Disraeli called him " Pinafore Smith " (after the operetta HMS Pinafore, in which his career was recovered satirical).

After a redistribution of seats Smith took off in 1885 as deputy London constituency beach. The following year, he briefly had the post of Chief Secretary for Ireland held. While Salisbury 's brief tenure as prime minister from July 1885 to February 1886, and after the electoral success of the Conservatives in July, he was Minister of War. In 1887, he was First Lord of the Treasury, and Leader of the House of Commons. In 1891 he was appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Because of its serious occurrence Smith was also jokingly called " Old Morality ".

William Henry Smith was a supporter of the hypothesis that the works of William Shakespeare from the pen of Francis Bacon came.