View source for Edwin Thomas Smith

{{Short description|Australian politician}}
{{Other people|Edwin Smith}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Moresources|date=January 2023}}
[[File:ET Smith-1872-B1288 6.jpg|thumb|1872 - politician]]
[[File:ET Smith-1887-B10252.jpg|thumb|1887 - Mayor]]
[[File:ET Smith-1900-B5564.jpg|thumb|1890 - Sir Edwin]]
[[File:ET Smith-1919-PRG280 1 9 47.jpg|thumb|1919 - grandfather]]

'''Sir Edwin Thomas Smith''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG}} (6 April 1830 – 25 December 1919)<ref name=adb/> was an [[England|English]]-born [[South Australia]]n brewer, businessman, councillor, mayor, politician and philanthropist.

==Early years==
Smith was born on 6 April 1830 at [[Walsall]], [[Staffordshire]], [[England]], the son of Edwin Smith.<ref name=adb>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |first=Helen R. |last=Pearce |id2=smith-sir-edwin-thomas-4601 |title=Smith, Sir Edwin Thomas (1830–1919) |volume=6 |year=1976 |pages=142–143 |access-date=2022-12-14}}</ref> He was educated at [[Queen Mary's Grammar School]], [[Walsall]], and on leaving school had business experience with an uncle. By age 20, Smith was taking part in local politics.{{cn|date=January 2023}}

==Emigration==
In 1853 Smith emigrated to [[South Australia]] aboard the ''California''<ref name=adb/> and began business as an importer of ironmongery at [[Adelaide]], initially collaborating with his cousin [[James Alexander Holden]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hrc.org.au/images/Memories/Marc_McInnes/The%20Holden%20Family%20Retiree%20Presentation%202%20OPT.pdf|title=The Holden Family|author=Marc McInnes|access-date=26 February 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304204347/http://www.hrc.org.au/images/Memories/Marc_McInnes/The%20Holden%20Family%20Retiree%20Presentation%202%20OPT.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> 
On 25 June 1857 he married Florence Stock, daughter of Robert Stock of Clifton, England. They would have two surviving children before she died in 1862.

==Brewer==
In 1860 he went into partnership with Edward Logue's<ref>[http://redpathpittfamily.net/getperson.php?personID=I46768&tree=RED1 Edward Logue 1821–1865], The Family of Ian Redpath and Maxine Pitt</ref> brewery on King William Street, [[Kent Town, South Australia|Kent Town]]. When Logue died in 1865, Smith continued the business as [[Kent Town Brewery]]. In 1876 he moved the business to the south-eastern corner of Dequetteville Terrace and [[Rundle Street, Adelaide|Rundle Street]]. In 1888 he amalgamated his business with that of [[William Knox Simms]] to form the [[South Australian Brewing Company]].<ref name =Painter1>Alison Painter, 
[http://www.sahistorians.org.au/175/chronology/december/25-december-18971919-wk-simms-and-et-smith.shtml 25 December 1897/1919 W.K. Simms and E.T. Smith] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190315181118/http://www.sahistorians.org.au/175/chronology/december/25-december-18971919-wk-simms-and-et-smith.shtml |date=15 March 2019 }}, Professional Historians Association (South Australia)</ref><ref name=Painter2>Alison Painter [http://www.sahistorians.org.au/175/chronology/september/26-september-1980-west-end-brewery.shtml 26 September 1980 West End Brewery] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190315180306/http://www.sahistorians.org.au/175/chronology/september/26-september-1980-west-end-brewery.shtml |date=15 March 2019 }} Professional Historians Association (South Australia)</ref>

The malt towers of the old Kent Town Brewery have now been turned into luxury apartments overlooking the [[Adelaide Park Lands]] and [[Adelaide city centre]].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.catalystarchitects.com.au/adaptive-re-use-experience?lightbox=image1uqy|website=Catalyst Design|title =Former brewery, Kent Town, SA|access-date =8 July 2019}}</ref>

==Local government==
Smith was [[Mayor]] of the [[City of Kensington and Norwood|Town of Kensington and Norwood]] during the years 1867–70 and 1871–73, and was afterwards elected to the [[Adelaide City Council]]. He served three terms as [[Mayor of Adelaide]]: in 1879–82, 1886–87 and 1887–88. It was as a result of his advocacy that Adelaide had its first [[tram]]ways, [[King William Street, Adelaide|King William Street]] was extended, and the [[Torrens Lake]] was formed.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

==Member of the House of Assembly==
Smith entered parliament in 1871 as member for [[Electoral district of East Torrens|East Torrens]] in the [[South Australian House of Assembly]], and except for a year while he was visiting England, continued to represent this constituency until he retired in 1893. Though an active member of parliament, he was not anxious for office, and only once was included in a government; he was Minister for Education in the [[John Cox Bray|Bray]] ministry from March to June 1884.<ref name="SA parl">{{Cite SA-parl |pid=4226 |name=Sir Edwin Thomas Smith KCMG |former=yes |access-date=13 December 2022}}</ref> 

He was, however, responsible for some useful legislation including a first offenders act, and he took a leading part in the promotion of the [[Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition]] of 1887–88. For this and his other services to the colony, he was knighted ({{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG}}) in 1888. In 1894, he gave the city a bronze statue of [[Queen Victoria]], which was placed in the geographic [[Adelaide city centre|centre of Adelaide]] in the centre of [[Victoria Square, Adelaide|Victoria Square]].{{cn|date=January 2023}}

==Member of the Legislative Council==
Smith was elected to the [[South Australian Legislative Council]] as member for Southern Districts in 1894 and remained a member until 1902.<ref name=adb/> During the whole of his parliamentary experience he never lost an election.

==Other roles, retirement and death==
Smith was the founding president of the [[Kensington and Norwood Institute]], and largely responsible for the funding of its building in 1876, now the heritage-listed Norwood Library on The Parade in [[Norwood, South Australia|Norwood]].<ref name=inst>{{cite web | title=Kensington and Norwood | website=Institutes of South Australia | date= 2021 | url=https://institutessa.com/?page_id=985 | access-date=4 January 2022}}</ref>  

He was a regular churchgoer and for many years a [[deacon]] of [[Clayton Congregational Church]], in [[Beulah Park, South Australia|Kensington]].<ref name=Clayton>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article57551056 |title=Clayton Congregational Church |newspaper=[[The Register (Adelaide)]] |date=11 February 1909 |access-date=4 October 2016 |page=6 |via=Trove}}</ref>

Smith retired from the active conduct of his business in 1888, and retired from parliament in 1902. In retirement he took a great interest in a large number of institutions, to which he gave both time and money. He was chairman of the national park commissioners, and a trustee of the [[Savings Bank of South Australia]]. He was an active worker in the management of the Blind, Deaf and Dumb Institution; the [[Royal Adelaide Hospital| Adelaide Hospital]]; the Old Colonists' Association; the Elder workmen's homes; [[Adelaide Botanic Garden]]; and [[Adelaide Zoo]].{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

Smith died of a [[cerebral haemorrhage]] on 25 December 1919 at his home, "The Acacias", in the eastern suburb of [[Marryatville, South Australia|Marryatville]].<ref name=adb/>

==Family==
On 25 June 1857, Edwin Smith  married Florence Stock (c. 1837 – 12 February 1862), daughter of Robert Stock of Clifton, England. They had three children:
*Horace Edwin Smith (1858–1858)
*Florence Ida Smith (1859–1932), married George Henry Dean in 1882.
*[[S. Talbot Smith|Sydney  Talbot Smith]] BA LLB (1861– 3 October 1948), married Florence Oliver Chettle (died died 21 September 1935), in 1887, with whom he had four children. 

Sir Edwin married again, in 1869, to Elizabeth Spicer (died 6 June 1911). This union was childless.

==Legacies==

===Sir Edwin and Lady Smith's Gifts, Walsall===
In 1917, Sir Edwin endowed a gift fund in his native town of Walsall, England, to buy Christmas gifts for the needy elderly of the parish.<ref>{{cite web |title=Walsall: Charities for the poor Pages 266-275 A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 17, Offlow Hundred (Part). |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol17/pp266-275 |website=British History Online |publisher=Victoria County History, 1976 |access-date=23 January 2024}}</ref>

===Norwood Football Club===
When the [[Norwood Football Club]] decided in December 2005 to set up a "Hall of Fame", Smith was appointed one of the 10 non-playing inaugural members.<ref>[http://www.norwoodfc.com.au/HISTORY/HALLOFFAME.aspx  Hall of Fame inductees] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110405020811/http://www.norwoodfc.com.au/HISTORY/HALLOFFAME.aspx |date=5 April 2011 }}, Hall of Fame Dinner, 12 August 2006, [[Norwood Football Club]].</ref> "Sir Edwin Thomas Smith was patron of Norwood from the club’s first day in 1878 until his last, Christmas Day 1919". "More than any other individual, Sir Edwin ensured that the club built its early sporting life on solid foundations".<ref>[http://www.norwoodfc.com.au/HISTORY/HALLOFFAME/SirEdwinTSmithKCMG.aspx Sir Edwin T. Smith KCMG] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110405074842/http://www.norwoodfc.com.au/HISTORY/HALLOFFAME/SirEdwinTSmithKCMG.aspx |date=5 April 2011 }}, Hall of Fame, Norwood Football Club.</ref>
He is known to have discovered a small 2 ounce of gold at Norwood oval in 1902. Edwin donated it to the football club, as well as his old pair of red socks. Ever since, Norwood has been known as the Redlegs.

===Adelaide Oval===
The Sir Edwin Smith Stand at the [[Adelaide Oval]] was named in his honour in 1922.  One of the roads leading up to the Oval is Sir Edwin Smith Way.

==The Acacias==
Smith bought the property on the corner of [[Portrush Road|Portrush]] and [[Kensington Road, Adelaide|Kensington Roads]], known as [[The Acacias]], in 1878 and made extensive additions and alterations to it. Upon his death in 1919, his home became [[Loreto College Marryatville|Loreto Convent]], then later Loreto College, Marryatville.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
*{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Edwin|Last=Smith|shortlink=0-dict-biogSa-Sp.html#smith2}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Edwin Thomas}}
[[Category:1830 births]]
[[Category:1919 deaths]]
[[Category:Colony of South Australia people]]
[[Category:People from Walsall]]
[[Category:Members of the South Australian House of Assembly]]
[[Category:Members of the South Australian Legislative Council]]
[[Category:Australian brewers]]
[[Category:Mayors and Lord Mayors of Adelaide]]
[[Category:People educated at Queen Mary's Grammar School]]
[[Category:English emigrants to colonial Australia]]
[[Category:Australian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:19th-century Australian businesspeople]]