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{{short description|British Army officer and colonial administrator (1787–1860)}}
{{Other uses|Harry Smith (disambiguation){{!}}Harry Smith}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix = [[Lieutenant general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]]
|name= Sir Harry Smith
|honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCB|Bt|size=100}}
|birth_date= {{birth-date|28 June 1787}}
|death_date= {{death-date and age|12 October 1860|28 June 1787}}
|image= Sir-Harry-Smith-Bt.jpg
|caption=
|nickname=
|birth_place=[[Whittlesey]], [[Cambridgeshire]]
|death_place=London, England
|allegiance=[[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]]
|branch= [[British Army]]
|serviceyears=1805–1859
|rank=[[Lieutenant-General (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]]
|unit=
|commands=[[Western District (British Army)|Western District]] [[Northern Command (United Kingdom)|Northern District]]
|battles=[[Napoleonic Wars]] [[War of 1812]] [[Xhosa Wars]] [[Gwalior campaign]] [[First Anglo-Sikh War]] [[Battle of Boomplaats]]
|awards=[[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
|spouse = [[Juana María de los Dolores de León Smith]] (married 1812)
}}

[[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]] '''Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith, 1st Baronet''', [[Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath|GCB]] (28 June 1787 – 12 October 1860) was a [[British Army]] officer and colonial administrator. A veteran of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], he is also particularly remembered for his role in the [[Battle of Aliwal]], India in 1846, his subsequent governorship of the [[Cape Colony]], and as the husband of [[Juana María de los Dolores de León Smith|Lady Smith]].

==Biography==

He was born in [[Whittlesey]], [[Isle of Ely]], Cambridgeshire, the son of a surgeon and major in the [[Wisbech]], Whittlesey and [[Thorney, Cambridgeshire|Thorney]] United Battalion.
The east end of the south aisle of St. Mary’s church was at this time partitioned off and used as a schoolroom, the vicar or curate teaching. It was here that Harry Smith received his education from the Rev. George Burgess, then curate. <ref>{{cite news|newspaper= Norfolk Chronicle |title= Sir Harry Smith's Return to Ely |date= 10 July 1847|page= 4}}</ref>

During a review of the unit by General Stewart, he got into conversation with the youth and offered to procure him a commission. A short time later a commission as a second lieutenant with the 95th Rifle Regiment arrived.<ref>{{cite news|title=Whittlesea|newspaper=Stamford Mercury|date=17 July 1846|page=3}}</ref> A chapel in the town's St Mary's church was restored in his memory in 1862, and a local community college also bears his name: Sir Harry Smith Community College.

===Napoleonic Wars===

Harry Smith—for throughout life he adopted the more familiar form of his Christian name—was educated privately and was commissioned on 8 May 1805, and then promoted Lieutenant on 15 August. His first active service was in South America in 1806 during the [[British invasions of the Río de la Plata]]. He distinguished himself at the [[Battle of Montevideo (1807)|Battle of Montevideo]] in 1807, but first came to real prominence during the [[Peninsular War]]. Smith served throughout these campaigns with the [[Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)|95th Rifles]] in which he served from 1808 through to the end of the war at the [[Battle of Toulouse (1814)|Battle of Toulouse]] in 1814. In 1810 he was appointed ADC to [[Thomas Sydney Beckwith|Colonel Beckwith]]. Early in 1812, on 28 February, he was promoted Captain, having already the previous March joined the 2nd brigade Light Division as major to the Major-Generals staff. On 7 April, the day following the [[Battle of Badajoz (1812)|storming of Badajoz]] a well-born Spanish lady, whose entire property in the city had been destroyed, presented herself at the British lines seeking protection from the licence of the soldiery for herself and her sister, a child of fourteen. The latter, [[Juana María de los Dolores de León Smith|Juana Maria de Los Dolores de León]], had but recently emerged from a convent; but notwithstanding her years she was married to Harry Smith a few days later. She accompanied him throughout the rest of the war.{{sfn|McNeill|1911}}

At the close of the war, Harry Smith volunteered for service in the United States, where he was present at the [[Battle of Bladensburg]] on 24 August 1814, and witnessed the [[Burning of Washington|burning of the capitol at Washington]]; which, as he said, "horrified us coming fresh from the Duke's humane warfare in the south of France."{{sfn|McNeill|1911}}

Returning to Europe he was a brigade major at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] in 1815, and afterwards rewarded as Assistant Quartermaster-General to the division. During the occupation of France he was sent to be Mayor of [[Cambrai]] in Picardy. With the restoration of peace in France he returned to divisional ADC at Glasgow for Major-General Reynell, GOC Western District of Scotland. Smith impressed Reynell, who helped his appointment as ADC to the Governor of Nova Scotia, Lieutenant-General Sir James Kempt in 1826.
[[File:Juana Ponce De Leon Smith.gif|right|thumb|[[Juana María de los Dolores de León Smith]]]]

===Xhosa Kingdom===
Smith was promoted Major in the army by the end of 1826, but remained unattached to a regimental posting, and was still unattached when raised to Lieutenant-colonel in July 1830. In 1828 Smith was ordered to the Cape of Good Hope, where he commanded a force in the [[Xhosa Wars#Sixth war (1834–1836)|Sixth Xhosa War]] of 1834-36. In 1835 he accomplished the feat of riding the 550 miles from Cape Town to [[Grahamstown]] in less than six days; after he had restored confidence among the whites by his energetic measures, he was appointed governor of the [[British Kaffraria|Province of Queen Adelaide]], where he gained influence over the native tribes, whom he vigorously set himself to civilize and benefit.{{sfn|McNeill|1911}}

But though [[Benjamin d'Urban|Sir Benjamin D'Urban]], the high commissioner, supported Smith, the ministry in London reversed his policy and, to quote Smith's own words, "directed the Province of Queen Adelaide to be restored to barbarism." Smith himself was removed from his command, his departure being deplored alike by Bantu and Boers. Many Boers, largely in consequence of this policy of [[Lord Glenelg]], began the migration to the interior known as the [[Great Trek]].{{sfn|McNeill|1911}}

===India===
Smith was appointed [[Adjutant-General (India)|Adjutant-General in India]] in 1840, where he took part in the Gwalior campaign of 1843, for which he was appointed a [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] (KCB). From 1845 to 1846, he fought in the [[First Anglo-Sikh War]]. He was in command of a division under [[Sir Hugh Gough]] at the battles of [[Battle of Mudki|Mudki]] and [[Battle of Ferozeshah|Ferozeshah]], where he conspicuously distinguished himself, but was insufficiently supported by the commander-in-chief. After the second of these actions, Smith was appointed to an independent command, and on 28 January 1846 he inflicted a crushing defeat on the Sikhs at Aliwal on the Sutlej.{{sfn|McNeill|1911}}

At the [[Battle of Sobraon]] on 10 February he again commanded a division under Gough. For the great victory of Aliwal he was awarded the thanks of Parliament; and the speech of the Duke of Wellington was perhaps the warmest encomium ever bestowed by that great commander on a meritorious officer. Smith was at the same time created a baronet; and as a special distinction the words "of Aliwal" were by the patent appended to the title.{{sfn|McNeill|1911}} He was promoted to Major-General on 9 November 1846.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=20660|pages=3987–3989|date=10 November 1846}}</ref>

===Return to South Africa===
[[File:Sir Harry G W Smith.jpg|thumb|left]]
[[File:Harry Smith's Annexations, South Africa 1847-1854.jpg|thumb|Harry Smith's Annexations, 1847-1854]]
In 1847 he returned to South Africa as Governor of Cape Colony and high commissioner, with the local rank of Lieutenant-General,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=20772|page=3262|date=10 September 1847}}</ref> to grapple with the difficulties he had foreseen eleven years before. Issues he faced ranged from domestic problems within the colony, such as the [[Convict crisis|Convict Crisis of 1849]], as well as external threats such as instability on the Cape's eastern frontier.

He took command of an expedition to deal with the disaffected Boers in the [[Orange River Sovereignty]], and fought the [[Battle of Boomplaats]] on 29 August 1848.{{sfn|McNeill|1911}}

It has been asserted that "the half-mad Smith's" seizure of the entire region of "British Kaffraria" in 1848 was launched and carried out "entirely on his own initiative."<ref name=Brendon>Brendon, Piers: ''The Decline and Fall of the British Empire'', page 98. Knopf, 2007.</ref> Piers Brendon described "Smith, placing his foot on the neck of the Xhosan chief and proclaiming, 'I am your Paramount Chief, and the Kaffirs are my dogs!'"<ref name=Brendon />

In December 1850 war broke out with the [[Xhosa people|Xhosa]] and some of the [[Khoikhoi]]; Sir Harry Smith was insufficiently supplied with troops from England; and though his conduct of the operations was warmly approved by the Duke of Wellington and other military authorities, [[Henry Grey, 3rd Earl Grey|Earl Grey]], in a dispatch never submitted to the queen, recalled him in 1852 before the Xhosa and Khoikhoi had been completely subdued. He protested strongly against the abandonment of the Orange River Sovereignty to the Boers, which was carried out two years after his departure, and he actively furthered the granting of responsible government to Cape Colony.{{sfn|McNeill|1911}}

His wife Juana gave her name to [[Ladysmith, South Africa|Ladysmith]] in [[KwaZulu-Natal Province|KwaZulu-Natal]] as well as [[Ladismith]] in the Western Cape province. [[Harrismith]] in the [[Free State Province|Free State]] was named after Smith himself (two other towns, [[Aliwal North]] in the [[Eastern Cape Province|Eastern Cape]] and [[Smithfield, Free State|Smithfield]] in the [[Free State (South African province)|Free State]], also mark Smith's connection with South Africa).

Impressed by the showing of the Cape Mounted Riflemen under his command, Smith created [[Sir Harry Smith's Medal for Gallantry]] in recognition of their conduct.

===Back in England===

In 1853 he was made [[General Officer Commanding]] [[Western District (British Army)|Western District]] back in England.<ref name=last>[http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/hsmith/autobiography/home.html Again in England - the last years]</ref> He was given brevet promotion to lieutenant-general on 20 June 1854<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=21564|pages=1931–1932|date=22 June 1854}}</ref> and appointed GOC [[Northern Command (United Kingdom)|Northern District]] in 1856.<ref name=last/>

After a long illness he died at his home at Eton Place, London, on 12 October 1860.<ref>{{cite news|title= Death of Sir Harry Smith|newspaper= Christchurch Times |date= 20 October 1860|page= 3}}</ref> He was buried at St Mary's, Whittlesey, where he is commemorated with a marble bust and memorial. That section of the church is known as Sir Harry's Chapel. His wife, Juana, deceased 10 October 1872, is interred with him.

His autobiography,<ref>Smith, Sir Harry. ‘'The Autobiography of Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Smith Baronet of Aliwal on the Sutlej.'’ Publisher: John Murray, Albemarle Street 1903 [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/57094/57094-h/57094-h.htm]</ref> first published posthumously in 1901, is regarded as a classic of love and war.

The story of Harry Smith and his wife in the Peninsular Campaign and the Battle of Waterloo is narrated in [[Georgette Heyer]]'s novel ''[[The Spanish Bride]]'' (1940).

==Bibliography==
{{Library resources box|by=yes|onlinebooks=yes|lcheading=Smith, Harry George Wakelyn, Sir, 1788-1860}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Smith, Sir Henry George Wakelyn|volume=25|page=263|first=Ronald John|last=McNeill|author-link=Ronald McNeill, 1st Baron Cushendun}}
*{{cite book |last=Harington |first=Andrew L. |year=1980 |title=Sir Harry Smith: Bungling Hero |location=Cape Town |publisher=Tafelberg Publishers|isbn=0-624-01307-3}}
*{{cite journal|last=Harington |first=Andrew L. |date=1 June 1974 |url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol031ah.html |title=Talk given by AL Harington, Sir Harry Smith and South Africa, 1834-1852 |journal=Military History Journal |volume=3 |issue=1 |location=South Africa |publisher=The South African Military History Society |issn=0026-4016}}
*{{cite book |last=Heyer |first=Georgette |title=The Spanish Bride |publisher=Heinemann |location= London |year=1940}}
*{{cite book |last=Lehmann |first=Joseph H |year=1977 |title=Remember you are an Englishman: A Biography of Sir Harry Smith, 1787–1860 |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |isbn=022401403X}}
*{{cite news|last=Staff|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/05/24/101953207.pdf |title=Review of Sir Harry Smith's Autobiography|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=24 May 1902}}
*{{cite book |last=Urban |first=Mark |year=2003 |title=Rifles: Six Years with Wellington's Legendary Sharpshooters |publisher=Faber and Faber |location=London |isbn=978-0-571-21681-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/rifles00mark }}
*{{cite ODNB |first=R. H.|last=Vetch |title=Smith, Sir Henry George Wakelyn [Harry], baronet, of Aliwal (1787–1860) |last2=Benyon |first2=John |orig-year=2004 |date=January 2008 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25810 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/25810}}
*{{DNBfirst|wstitle=Smith, Harry George Wakelyn|volume=53|pages=44–48}}
*{{cite book |last=Welsh |first=Frank |year=1998 |title=A History of South Africa |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=0-00-638421-8 |chapter=Chapter 8 |pages=190–194}}

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author|id=49191}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Sir William Anson, 1st Baronet|Sir William Anson]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=Colonel of the [[47th (the Lancashire) Regiment of Foot]] | years=1847}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Thomas Dalmer]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Dugald Gilmour|Sir Dugald Gilmour]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Colonel-Commandant of the 2nd Battalion, [[Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)|Rifle Brigade]] | years=1855–1860}}
{{s-aft|after=[[George Brown (British Army officer)|Sir George Brown]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Henry Murray (British Army officer)|Sir Henry Murray]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Western District (British Army)|GOC Western District]]|years=1853–1854}}
{{s-aft|after=[[George Morton Eden|George Eden]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Andrew Barnard|Sir Andrew Barnard]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Colonel-Commandant of the 1st Battalion, [[Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)|Rifle Brigade]] | years=1855–1860}}
{{s-aft|after=[[George Buller|Sir George Buller]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Charles Cathcart, 2nd Earl Cathcart|Lord Cathcart]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Northern Command (United Kingdom)|GOC Northern District]]|years=1856–1859}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Lysaght Pennefather|Sir John Pennefather]]}}
{{s-gov}}
{{succession box
| before=[[Henry Pottinger]]
| title=[[Governor of the Cape Colony]] | years=1847–1852
| after=[[George Cathcart|Sir George Cathcart]]}}
{{s-reg|uk-bt}}
{{s-new|Creation}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Smith baronets|Baronet]] '''(of Aliwal)''' | years=1846–1860}}
{{s-non|reason=Extinct}}
{{s-end}}
{{British Governors of the Cape Colony}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Harry, Sir, 1st Baronet}}
[[Category:1787 births]]
[[Category:1860 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Whittlesey]]
[[Category:People of the Battle of Waterloo]]
[[Category:British Army lieutenant generals]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the War of 1812]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the First Anglo-Sikh War]]
[[Category:Governors of the Cape Colony]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Waterloo Medal]]
[[Category:47th Regiment of Foot officers]]
[[Category:Rifle Brigade officers]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Gwalior Campaign]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Cambridgeshire]]

Sir Harry Smith, 1st Baronet - Revision history

Veronasie: adding some page w/ infobox