William Henry Smyth: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:31, 27 September 2004

Latest revision as of 08:00, 25 August 2025

(215 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)

Line 1:

{{Short description|Royal Navy Admiral (1788–1865)}}

'''William Henry Smyth''' ([[January 21]], [[1788]] – [[September 9]], [[1865]]) was a British [[astronomer]]. He was the father of [[Charles Piazzi Smyth]].

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}

{{Use British English|date=November 2013}}

{{Infobox military person

| honorific_prefix = [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]]

| name = William Henry Smyth

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS|FSA|FRAS|FRGS}}

| image = William Henry Smyth - medal.png

| alt = refer to caption

| caption = Smyth, as depicted in his ''The Sailor's Word-Book''

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1788|1|21|df=yes}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1865|9|8|1788|1|21|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Westminster, London

| death_place = [[Stone, Buckinghamshire]]

| placeofburial = Stone, Buckinghamshire

| placeofburial_label =

| placeofburial_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->

| nickname =

| birth_name =

| allegiance = United Kingdom

| branch = [[Royal Navy]]

| serviceyears = 1804–1846

| rank = [[Admiral (Royal Navy)|Admiral]]

| servicenumber =

| unit =

| commands = {{Plainlist|

* Gunboat ''Mors aut Gloria''

* {{HMS|Scylla|1809|6}}

* {{HMS|Aid|1809|6}} (later ''Adventure'')

}}

| battles =

{{tree list}}

* [[Napoleonic Wars]]

** [[Walcheren Campaign]]

** [[Siege of Cádiz]]

{{tree list/end}}

| awards = [[Order of Saint Ferdinand and of Merit]]

| spouse = [[Eliza Anne "Annarella" Warington]]

| relations =

| laterwork = Astronomer and numismatist

}}

Admiral '''William Henry Smyth''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS|FSA|FRAS|FRGS}} (21 January 1788 – 8 September 1865) was an English [[Royal Navy]] officer, [[hydrographer]], [[astronomer]] and [[numismatist]]. He is noted for his involvement in the early history of a number of learned societies, for his hydrographic charts, for his astronomical work, and for a wide range of publications and translations.

He was born in [[Westminster, England]]. He was the only son of Joseph Brewer Palmer Smyth, Esq., and Georgina Caroline B. Pilkington, and was a descendant of Captain [[John Smith of Jamestown|John Smith]], the principal founder of the [[Jamestown, Virginia]] colony. His parents were colonial [[United States|American]]s who lived in East Jersey. They were [[England|English]] loyalists, however, and after the [[American Revolution]] they emigrated to England where their son was born.

==Origins==

Smyth joined the [[Royal Navy]] and during the [[Napoleonic wars]] he served in the [[Mediterranean]], eventually achieving the rank of Admiral. He married [[Annarella Warrington]] in [[1815]]. During a [[hydrographic survey]] in [[1817]] he met the [[Italy|Italian]] [[astronomer]] [[Giuseppe Piazzi]] in [[Palermo|Palermo, Sicily]], and visited his [[observatory]]; this sparked his interest in [[astronomy]] and in [[1825]] he retired from the Navy to establish a private observatory in [[Bedford, England]], equipped with a 5.9-inch [[refractor telescope|refractor]] [[telescope]]. He used this instrument to observe a variety of [[deep sky object]]s over the course of the [[1830s]], including [[double star]]s, [[star cluster]]s and [[nebula]]e. He published his observations in [[1844]] in the ''[[Cycle of Celestial Objects]]'', which earned him the [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] in [[1845]] and also the presidency of the society. The first volume of this work was on general astronomy, but the second volume became known as the ''[[Bedford Catalogue]]'' and contained Smyth's observations of 1604 double stars and nebulae. It served as a standard reference work for many years afterward; no astronomer had previously made as extensive a catalogue of dim objects such as this.

William Henry Smyth was the only son of Joseph Smyth (died 1788) and Georgiana Caroline Pitt Pilkington (died 1838), the daughter of [[John Carteret Pilkington]] and the granddaughter of [[Laetitia Pilkington]] and her husband [[Matthew Pilkington]]. His father, Joseph Smyth, an [[United States|American]] [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] from [[New Jersey]] who served as a lieutenant in the [[King's Royal Regiment of New York]] during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], was the sixth son of Benjamin Smyth (died 1769),<ref>''By 1760, Benjamin Smyth had built a gristmill in what is now the historic Blairstown Village'' [http://www.nj.gov/agriculture/sadc/home/genpub/Blairstown%20Warren.pdf Accessed 7 February 2018]</ref> a landowner in what is now [[Blairstown, New Jersey|Blairstown]],<ref>"The Loyalists of New Jersey" E Alfred Jones, NJ Hist Soc, 1927, p 204</ref> and his first wife Catherina Schoonhoven (died 1750).

Never having known his father, the Admiral grew up with a half-brother [[Augustus Earle]] and a half-sister [[Phoebe Earle]].

Having completed his observations, Smyth retired to [[Cardiff]] in [[1839]]. His observatory was dismantled and the telescope was sold to Dr. [[John Lee]] and re-erected in a new observatory of his own design at Hartwell House. Smyth still had the opportunity to use it since his residence at St. John's Lodge was not far from its new ___location, and did a large number of additional astronomical observations from [[1839]] to [[1859]]. The present whereabouts of the telescope are unknown.

To conceal the disreputability of his parents and his probable illegitimacy, his descendants, in particular his daughter Henrietta Grace Smyth, invented an imaginary ancestry.<ref name = "Jeal">{{cite book|title = Baden-Powell|author = Tim Jeal|publisher = Pimlico|year = 1989|___location = London|ISBN = 0-7126-5026-1|pages = 4-5 and 578-580}}</ref> Their claims, which were reproduced in works like Burke's Peerage,<ref>{{cite book|title = Burke's Peerage Baronetage & Knightage|year = 1953|editor = L.G. Pine|___location = London|page = 1704}}</ref> included alleged descent from the childless [[John Smith (explorer)|Captain John Smith]], whose coat of arms they adopted, and a fictitious relationship with [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Lord Nelson]].<ref name = "Jeal"/> Genealogical research they had commissioned in England and the USA, suggesting that his father Joseph Smyth was in fact a forger, a perjurer and a bigamist, was suppressed.<ref name = "Jeal"/>

Smyth suffered a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] in early September, 1865, and at first seemed to recover. On [[September 8]] he showed the planet [[Jupiter (planet)|Jupiter]] to his young grandson, Arthur Smyth Flower, through a telescope. A few hours later in the early morning of [[September 9]], at age 78, he died. He was buried in the churchyard at Stone near [[Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire|Aylesbury]].

==Royal Navy==

A [[lunar mare]] was named [[Mare Smythii]] in his honour.

[[File:W H Smyth.jpg|thumb|right]]

In 1802, aged 14, Smyth ran away from his poverty-stricken home to be a cabin boy aboard a merchant ship, which was subsequently commandeered by the Royal Navy; he entered as an ordinary seaman.<ref name="Jeal"/> In 1804 he was in the East India Company's ship ''Marquis Cornwallis'', which the government chartered for an expedition against the Seychelles. In the following March, as {{HMS|Cornwallis|1805|2}} the vessel was bought by the [[Royal Navy]] to be a 50-gun ship under the command of Captain Charles James Johnston, with whom Smyth remained, seeing much active service in Indian, Chinese, Australian and Pacific waters. In February 1808 he followed Johnston to {{HMS|Powerful|1783|2}}, which, on returning to England, was part of the force in the [[Walcheren Campaign|expedition to the Scheldt]], and was paid off in October 1809. He afterwards served in the 74-gun {{HMS|Milford|1809|2}} on the coast of France and Spain, and was lent from her to command the Spanish gunboat ''Mors aut Gloria'' at the [[Siege of Cádiz|defence of Cadiz]] from September 1810 to April 1811. In July 1811 he joined {{HMS|Rodney|1809|2}} off [[Toulon]], and through 1812 served on the coast of Spain.<ref name="dnb">{{cite web |last=Laughton |first=J. K. |title=Smyth, William Henry (1788–1865), admiral and scientific writer | work=[[Dictionary of National Biography]] Vol. LIII |publisher=Smith, Elder & Co. |year=1898 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/olddnb/25961 |access-date=31 October 2012 }} {{Cite DNB |wstitle=Smyth, William Henry |volume=53 |noicon=yes }}</ref>

On 25 March 1813 (aged 25) he was promoted to lieutenant and appointed to the Sicilian flotilla, in which he combined service against the French from Naples with a good deal of unofficial hydrographic surveying and antiquarian research. For his services in defending Sicily, he was subsequently awarded the [[Order of Saint Ferdinand and of Merit]] by King [[Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies]], and received permission from the Prince Regent to wear it.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=17126 |date=9 April 1816 |pages=65–66}}</ref>

[[File:Admiralty Chart No 153 The harbour of Villa-Franca RMG F0437, Published 1833.tiff|thumb|left|275px|Smyth's chart of the harbour of Villa-Franca ([[Villefranche-sur-Mer]])]]

On 18 September 1815 (aged 27) he was promoted to [[Commander (Royal Navy)|Commander]] and in command of the brig {{HMS|Scylla|1809|2}} continued surveying the coast of Sicily, the adjacent coasts of Italy, and the opposite shores of Africa. In 1817 his survey work was put on a more formal footing by his appointment to {{HMS|Aid|1809|2}}. In 1821 this vessel was renamed ''Adventure'' and later accompanied {{HMS|Beagle||2}} on the [[HMS Beagle#First voyage (1826–1830)|first voyage of the ''Beagle'']], in which Smyth's half-brother [[Augustus Earle]] was the official artist. In ''Aid'', Smyth carried on the [[hydrographic survey]] of the Italian, Sicilian, Greek, and African coasts, and constructed a very large number of charts, used by the Royal Navy among others until the mid-20th century. As a result, he became known as "Mediterranean Smyth". His hydrographic operations in the Adriatic, in collaboration with the Austrian and Neapolitan authorities, resulted in the ''Carta di Cabottaggio del Mare Adriatico'', published in 1822–24.<ref>"[[Cabotage]] Map of the Adriatic Sea" {{cite web |url=http://www.sullacrestadellonda.it/cartografia/uk15_en.htm |title=Nautical cartography : Great Britain |first=Paola |last=Presciuttini |work=sullacrestadellonda.it |date=2012 |access-date=25 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202235631/http://www.sullacrestadellonda.it/cartografia/uk15_en.htm |archive-date=2 December 2013 }}</ref>

While in [[Sicily]] in 1817, he met the [[Italians|Italian]] [[astronomer]] [[Giuseppe Piazzi]] in [[Palermo]] and visited his [[observatory]]; this sparked his interest in [[astronomy]] and he gave his second son (who became a noted astronomer) the name [[Charles Piazzi Smyth|Piazzi]]. Smyth published some of his work in his ''Memoir description of the Resources, Inhabitants, and Hydrography of Sicily and its Islands'' (London, 1824),<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''Memoir description of the Resources, Inhabitants, and Hydrography of Sicily and its Islands, interspersed with Antiquarian and other Notices'' by Captain W. H. Smyth, R.N., 1824|journal=The Quarterly Review|date=January 1824|volume=30|pages=382–403|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044014221196;view=1up;seq=392}}</ref> which was followed in 1828 by a ''Sketch of Sardinia''. Subsequently, in 1854, he was awarded the [[Royal Geographical Society]]'s [[Founder's Medal]] in recognition of his survey work in the Mediterranean.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5962519-882A-4C67-803D-0037308C756D/0/GoldMedallists18322011.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927221002/http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5962519-882A-4C67-803D-0037308C756D/0/GoldMedallists18322011.pdf |archive-date=2011-09-27 |url-status=live| title=List of Past Gold Medal Winners|publisher= Royal Geographical Society|access-date = 24 August 2015}}</ref>

On 7 February 1824, aged 36, he was promoted to [[Post-Captain]], and in November he paid off the ''Adventure''. He remained on the Active List on full pay, ready for active service, but this actually was the end of his service at sea, and he turned to a life of literary and scientific pursuits.<ref name="dnb"/> In 1846 aged 58, he retired from the Navy on [[half-pay]],<ref>18 [[Shilling (British coin)|shillings]] a day,</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=20656 |date=3 November 1846 |pages=3839–3840 |nolink=yes }}</ref> being advanced on the retired list to Rear-Admiral on 28 May 1853,<ref>Without increase of pay</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=21445 |date=3 June 1853 |page=1549 |nolink=yes }}</ref> then to Vice-Admiral on 17 May 1858,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=22140 |date=18 May 1858 |pages=2454–2455 |nolink=yes }}</ref> and finally to Admiral on 14 November 1863, aged 75.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=22790 |date=20 November 1863 |page=5586 |nolink=yes }}</ref>

==Astronomy==

[[Image:Comet of 1811.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Great Comet of 1811]], as drawn by William Henry Smyth]]

Returning to England and settling at [[Bedford, Bedfordshire|Bedford]], in 1825 he fitted out a private observatory equipped with a 5.9-inch [[refractor telescope]]<ref>{{cite web

|last=Steinicke |first=W. |url=http://www.klima-luft.de/steinicke/ngcic/persons/smyth.htm|title=William Henry Smyth : Photos|date=2017|access-date=26 April 2017}}</ref> at his home at 6 The Crescent.<ref name="BAS Smyth">{{cite web |title=Admiral William Henry Smyth – |url=https://bedsastro.org.uk/bedford-astronomical-society-bas-heritage/admiral-william-henry-smyth/ |website=www.bedsastro.org.uk |publisher=Bedford Astronomical Society |access-date=21 November 2022}}</ref><ref name="peeling2020">{{cite journal

| last = Peeling

| first = Robert

| author-link =

| title = The Story of the Lee Equatorial and Smythian Telescopes

| journal = [[The Antiquarian Astronomer]]

| volume = 14

| pages = 51–65

| publisher = [[Society for the History of Astronomy]]

| date = 2020

| bibcode = 2020AntAs..14...51P

| url = http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2020AntAs..14...51P

}}</ref>

He used this instrument to observe a variety of [[deep sky object]]s over the course of the 1830s, including [[double star]]s, [[star cluster]]s and [[nebula]]e. He published his observations in 1844 in the ''Cycle of Celestial Objects'', which earned him the [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] in 1845 and also the presidency of the society. The first volume of this work was on general astronomy, but the second volume became known as the ''Bedford Catalogue''<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.willbell.com/handbook/HAND1.htm|title=The Bedford Catalog from Cycle of Celestial Objects by William H. Smyth |first=George |last=Lovi|work=willbell.com|date=2008

|access-date=25 November 2013}}</ref> and contained his observations of 1,604 double stars and nebulae. It served as a standard reference work for many years afterward; no astronomer had previously made as extensive a catalogue of dim objects such as this. It was reprinted in 1986 with a foreword stating:<ref>{{cite journal |first=Will |last=Tirion|title=Obituary: George Lovi (1939–1993)|journal=Journal of the British Astronomical Association

|volume=103|issue=4|page=201|date=1993|url= http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1993JBAA..103..201T

|bibcode= 1993JBAA..103..201T|access-date=25 November 2013}}</ref>

{{quote|What makes it so special is that it is the first true celestial Baedeker and not just another "cold" catalogue of mere numbers and data. Like the original Baedeker travel guidebooks of the last century, this work is full of colorful commentary on the highlights of the heavenly scene and heavily influenced several subsequent works of its type, even to the present day. ...It is in the descriptive material that Smyth is a delight. He not only describes what the user of a small telescope will see, but also includes much fascinating astronomical, mythological, and historical lore. Many of these descriptions are especially valuable for the novice and user of small telescopes of a size similar to Smyth's.}}

Having completed his observations, he moved to [[Cardiff]] in 1839 to supervise the construction of the [[Cardiff Docks|Bute Dock]] which he had designed.<ref>A copy of his Report is held at the [[Institution of Civil Engineers]]</ref> His observatory was dismantled and the telescope was sold to Dr [[John Lee (astronomer)|John Lee]], who re-erected it in a new observatory of Smyth's design at [[Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire|Hartwell House]] near the village of [[Stone, Buckinghamshire|Stone]] in [[Buckinghamshire]]. Smyth moved to Stone in 1842 and, still having access to the telescope, performed a large number of additional astronomical observations from 1839 to 1859. The telescope is now in the [[Science Museum, London]].<ref>See his book "Aedes Hartwellianae, or notices of the Mansion of Hartwell" (1851), which has illustrations by his wife, two of his sons, one daughter, and his son-in-law Baden Powell.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=zlRNAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Aedes+Hartwellianae%22|title=Aedes Hartwellianae: or, Notices of the Manor and Mansion of Hartwell|first=William Henry |last= Smyth|work=books.google.co.uk

|date=2013|access-date=25 November 2013}}</ref><ref name="peeling2020"/>

He also produced observations in a publication on star colours entitled "Sidereal Chromatics" in 1864,<ref name="James2017">{{cite web|last=James |first=A.|title=Sidereal Chromatics : Being a Re-print, With Additions, "Bedford Cycle of Celestial Objects," and Its "Harwell Continuation" of the Colours of Multiple Stars.|url=http://www.southastrodel.com/Page029f.htm|date=1864|access-date=26 April 2017}}</ref> which attempted to explain their nature, the effects of the Earth's atmosphere, and the possibility of change in colour due to [[Doppler Shift]]. While his premise proved ultimately wrong, he discussed and created a summary on observing star colours of many double stars under his so-called Hartwell Experiment.<ref name="James2017a">{{cite web|title=The Application of Admiral Smyth's "Sidereal Chromatics"|last=James|first=A.|url=http://www.southastrodel.com/Page029f0.htm|date=26 April 2017|access-date=26 April 2017}}</ref> Some of his ideas continued to be promoted into the early 20th century, but were mostly then rejected by the overwhelming evidence from [[astronomical spectroscopy]].<ref name="James2017a"/>

==Numismatics==

He was a [[numismatist]] of some standing, being a founding member of the [[Royal Numismatic Society]] in 1836 and one of the first members of its council. He maintained a lifelong interest in coins and was the author of a number of treatises on the subject.<ref>The history of the Society, Part 1: 1836–1874, describes the founding of the Society including the role of Admiral Smyth: :''The first meetings, held on 26 June 1836 ... proposed that ... the friends of Numismatic Science should ... be formed into ... the Numismatic Society, that Capt. William Henry Smyth be requested to act as President''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=History of the Society Part 1: 1836–1874 |first=R.A.G. |last=Carson|work=Royal Numismatic Society|url= http://royalnumismaticsociety.org/RNS_Web/Pages/01_02_MedalOfJohnLee_Part_1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202223945/http://royalnumismaticsociety.org/RNS_Web/Pages/01_02_MedalOfJohnLee_Part_1.pdf |archive-date=2013-12-02 |url-status=live

|date=2013 |access-date=25 November 2013}}</ref>

==Involvement with learned institutions==

In 1821 he became a fellow of the [[Society of Antiquaries of London]] and of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] (RAS). On 15 June 1826 he was elected [[Fellow of the Royal Society]], and in 1830 was one of the founders of the [[Royal Geographical Society]] (RGS).<ref name="Markham23">{{cite book |last=Markham |first=Sir Clements Robert |date=1881 |title=The Fifty Years' Work of the Royal Geographical Society |publisher=J. Murray |page=23}}</ref> In 1845–6 he was president of the RAS and in 1849–50, of the RGS. He was vice-president and foreign secretary of the [[Royal Society]]; vice-president and director of the Society of Antiquaries; and an honorary or [[corresponding member]] of at least three-fourths of the literary and scientific societies in Europe.<ref name="dnb"/> as well as those in the United States. Among these were the [[Royal Irish Academy]], the [[Institut de France]], the [[Accademia Pontaniana]], the National Institute of Washington, and the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (1847),<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter S|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterS.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618090058/http://amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterS.pdf |archive-date=2006-06-18 |url-status=live|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=13 September 2016}}</ref> and the Naval Lyceum of New York. He also served on the Board of Visitors to the [[Greenwich Observatory]].<ref name="obyrne">{{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Smyth, William Henry |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]}}</ref> He contributed numerous papers to the ''Philosophical Transactions'' and the ''Proceedings'' of the RAS and RGS, and from 1829 to 1849 to the ''United Service Journal''.

==Later literary work==

He was the author of many works, the best known of which are:

* ''A Cycle of Celestial Objects for the use of Naval, Military, and Private Astronomers'' for which he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. Published as two volumes in 1844, volume I: Prolegomena; Volume II: The Bedford Catalogue., it is still in print;

* ''The Mediterranean: a Memoir Physical, Historical, and Nautical'' (1854). His charts of the Mediterranean, made in the 1820s, were still in use by the Royal Navy until the 1960s;

* ''The Sailor's Word-Book'', first published in 1867, and still available in print and as an e-book. This is a comprehensive dictionary of nautical terms which, as well as sail, covers the early years of steam propulsion.<ref>Revised and edited by his friend Sir [[Edward Belcher]]</ref>

He also translated and edited [[François Arago]]'s treatises on ''Popular Astronomy'' and on ''Comets''.<ref>The complete story of his literary activity is contained in ''Synopsis of the published and privately printed Works of Admiral W. H. Smyth'' (1864), which enumerates his fugitive papers as well as his larger works.</ref><ref name="dnb"/>

==Last years==

As well as his home at St John's Lodge in Stone, he kept a house at 3 [[Cheyne Walk]] in [[Chelsea, London]], where he stayed while attending the various learned societies and where he entertained his like-minded friends.

In early September 1865, he suffered a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] at St John's Lodge and at first seemed to recover. On the evening of 8 September he showed the planet [[Jupiter]] to his young grandson, Arthur Smyth Flower, through a telescope. He died a few hours later, in the early morning of 9 September, at the age of 78, and was buried in the graveyard of St John the Baptist church at [[Stone, Buckinghamshire]].

His obituary in the ''Monthly Notices'' of the Royal Astronomical Society noted:<ref>{{cite journal |journal=[[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]] |volume=26 |page=121 |title=Obituary : Admiral William Henry Smyth | url= http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0026//0000121.000.html |access-date=25 November 2013}}</ref>

{{quote|As President of the Astronomical Club, he was always genial & courteous, ever keeping things in happy order, and by his ready wit and flow of humour compelling the maintenance of good fellowship. He used to fill his pockets with new half-pennies to distribute to any children he met in his daily walks. Whatever he did, he did it with his might.}}

A [[lunar mare]] was named [[Mare Smythii]] in his honour, as was [[Smyth Channel]] in the fiords of [[Chile]] and [[Cape Smyth]] in the [[Antarctic]].{{cn|date=November 2021}}

==Family==

In [[Messina]] on 7 October 1815, when both were aged 27, he married Eliza Anne ("Annarella"), only child of Thomas Warington, the British consul in Naples, and his first wife Anne, widow of

Lewis Bradshaw Peirson and daughter of William Robinson. They had eleven children, five of whom either achieved prominence or married notable spouses:

*[[Warington Wilkinson Smyth]] (1817–1890)

*[[Charles Piazzi Smyth]] (1819–1900)

*Henrietta Grace Smyth (1824–1914), who married [[Baden Powell (mathematician)|Baden Powell]] and was mother of nine, including [[Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell]]

*[[Henry Augustus Smyth]] (1825–1906)

*Georgiana Rosetta Smyth (1835–1923), who married Sir [[William Henry Flower]] and had seven children, including [[Stanley Smyth Flower]].

*Ellen Philadelphia Smyth (1828–1881), who married the meteorologist Captain [[Henry Toynbee]] FRAS FRGS (1819–1909)

==Portraits==

[[File:WHS 1855.jpg|thumb|William Henry Smyth in 1855]] An 1818 watercolour portrait by [[James Green (artist)|James Green]] exists,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/drawings-watercolors/james-green-portrait-study-of-captain-william-5324871-details.aspx |title=Portrait study of Captain William Henry Smyth, R.N., in dress uniform and wearing his insignia of the Order of St. Ferdinand by James Green (1771–1834) |work=christies.com |date=2013 |access-date=25 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.npgprints.com/image/17875/william-brockedon-william-henry-smyth |title=William Henry Smyth by William Brockedon |work=National Portrait Gallery |date=2013 |access-date=25 November 2013 |archive-date=2 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202235713/http://www.npgprints.com/image/17875/william-brockedon-william-henry-smyth |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw05877/William-Henry-Smyth |title=Portrait photograph of William Henry Smyth by Maull & Polyblank |work=National Portrait Gallery |date=1855 |access-date=25 November 2013}}</ref> but an 1861 portrait in oils by E. E. Eddis of him and his wife cataloguing the [[Duke of Northumberland]]'s numismatic collection was destroyed during the [[London blitz]].<ref>{{cite web|title=History of the Society Part 1: 1836–1874|first=Lane|last=R.J.|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage?mkey=mw85152&LinkID=mp04171&role=sit&rNo=2#qcom3103|work=Image:William Henry Smyth; Annarella Smyth (née Warington)|date=1956|access-date=26 April 2017}}</ref>

==Publications==

{{columns-list|colwidth=10em}}

*''[https://archive.org/details/smyth-1824-memoir-descriptive-of-the-resources-inha Memoir Descriptive of the Resources, Inhabitants, and Hydrography of Sicily and Its Islands, Interspersed With Antiquarian and Other Notices]'' (1824)

*''[https://archive.org/details/sketchpresentst00smytgoog Sketch of the Present State of the Island of Sardinia]'' (1828, reprinted 2009)

*''[https://archive.org/details/lifeandservices00smytgoog The Life and Services of Captain Philip Beaver]'' (1829)

*''[https://archive.org/details/descriptivecata00smytgoog Descriptive Catalogue of a Cabinet of Roman Imperial Large-brass Medals]'' (1834)

*''[https://archive.org/details/voyagesupmedite00robigoog/page/n16/mode/1up?q=smyth Voyages up the Mediterranean and in the Indian Seas; with memoirs, compiled from the logs and letters of W. Robinson, a Midshipman. Revised by W. H. Smyth]'' (1837)

*''Address to the Royal Geographical Society of London: delivered at the anniversary meeting on 27 May '' (1850)

*''A Cycle of Celestial Objects, for the use of naval, military and private astronomers, observed, reduced and discussed by Captain W. H. Smyth'' (1844) [https://archive.org/details/cycleofcelestial01smytrich Volume 1]; [https://archive.org/details/cycleofcelestial02smytrich Volume 2].

*''[https://archive.org/details/deshartwelliano00smytgoog Aedes Hartwellianae, or notices of the Manor and Mansion of Hartwell]'' (1851)

*''[https://archive.org/details/jstor-1798176 Address to the Royal Geographical Society of London; delivered at the anniversary meeting on 26 May 1851]'' (1851)

*''[https://archive.org/details/mediterraneanmem00smyt The Mediterranean: a Memoir Physical Historical and Nautical]'' (1854, reprinted 2000)

*''Popular Astronomy ...'' by [[François Arago|Dominique Francois Jean Arago]], translated and edited by Admiral W. H. Smyth and R. Grant (1855)

*''[https://archive.org/details/descriptivecata00nortgoog Descriptive Catalogue of a cabinet of Roman Family Coins belonging to His Grace the Duke of Northumberland]'' (1856)

*''Lines written on reading verses of Rear-Admiral W. H. Smyth'' (1857)

*''[https://archive.org/details/historynewworld00smytgoog History of the New World]'' (1857) by [[Girolamo Benzoni]], translated by W. H. Smyth

*''[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16775 Biographies of Distinguished Scientific Men]'' by Dominique Francois Jean Arago, translated by W. H. Smyth, the Rev. Baden Powell and R. Grant, (1857)

*''The Cycle of Celestial Objects continued at the Hartwell Observatory to 1859. With a notice of recent discoveries, including details from the Ædes Hartwellianae'' (1860)

*''An Additional Word on the pristine establishment of the Royal Society Club'' (1861)

*''Synopsis of the published and {{Sic|hide=y|privately|-}}printed works by Admiral W. H. Smyth'' (1864)

*''[https://archive.org/details/addendatodeshar00smytgoog Addenda to the Ædes Hartwellianæ]'' (1864)

*''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26000 Nautical Terms – The Sailor's Word-Book]'' (1867)

*''Sidereal Chromatics: Being a Re-Print, with Additions from the Bedford Cycle of Celestial Objects and its Hartwell Continuation on the Colours of Multiple Stars'' (Re-printed 2010. {{ISBN|9781108015172}})

==References==

{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==

{{DNB|wstitle=Smyth, William Henry}}

* [http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0026//0000121.000.html Obituary]

{{Commons category|William Henry Smyth}}

{{Wikiquote}}

{{cite wikisource |first=William Richard |last=O'Byrne |chapter=Smyth, William Henry |title=A Naval Biographical Dictionary |year=1849 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]}}

* {{Gutenberg author | id=6925}}

* {{Internet Archive author |sname=William Henry Smyth |sopt=t}}

* {{Librivox author |id=11896}}

{{RGSPresidents}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category{{DEFAULTSORT:1788 births|Smyth, William Henry]]}}

[[Category:18651788 deaths|Smyth, William Henrybirths]]

[[Category:Astronomers|Smyth,1865 William Henrydeaths]]

[[Category:Military personnel from Westminster]]

[[Category:Royal Navy personnel of the Napoleonic Wars]]

[[Category:Royal Navy admirals]]

[[Category:19th-century British astronomers]]

[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Geographical Society]]

[[Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]

[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]

[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]

[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society]]

[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society]]

[[Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London]]