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Worthington George Smith (1835–1917)
Worthington George Smith (1835–1917) Worthington George Smith was born in London on 23 March, 1835, the son of George Smith and his wife Sarah Worthington. He developed a wide range of interests including history, archeology and botany. He became particularly fascinated by fungi (mushrooms) and wrote many papers and books on this subject which included his own illustrations. Smith regularly took part in ‘fungi forays’, collecting fungi in the wild, after which the specimens were classified they were cooked and eaten. Such was his interest in this subject that in 1898 he became a founder member of the British Mycological Society to which he was elected President in 1903. Smith initially trained as an architect, but after tiring of this occupation he turned to earning his living through illustrations, particularly those of a botanical nature. His first publication titled Mushrooms and toadstools : how to distinguish the difference between edible and poisonous fungi (1866) helped establish him as an authority on edible fungi. He subsequently published articles in numerous other journals such as the Transactions of the Woolhope Club, The Florist and Pomologist, the Journal of Horticulture and the Floral magazine. Such were the quality of his illustrations that he became principle artist for the Gardener’s Chronicle until 1910. Smith had many connections with the Natural History Museum; undertaking many drawings that were displayed in the galleries. He also lectured, wrote and illustrated books on fungi for the Museum. In 1875 he was acknowledge and awarded for discovering the fungal cause of the potato blight. Unfortunately it was later found that his conclusions were incorrect, but this did not seem to tarnish his scientific reputation. His other lifelong interest was archaeology and he soon became well known in archaeological circles. Regarded as a pioneering archaeologist as a result of his discoveries of early flint tools he published many of his findings in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute. Smith married Henrietta White on 24 April 1856,
with whom he had seven children of which only three
survived. Following a health scare in 1884 he moved
with his family to Dunstable where he continued
with his archaeological and botanical interests.
He died from pneumonia on 27 October 1917, just
four months after his wife had passed away.
The thistle is the common name for a group of
plants mostly in the plant family Asteraceae. They
are characterised by their leaves which are covered
in sharp spines and prickles on the edges.
The Worthington Smith Drawings Collection The Library holds an extensive collection of original
drawings completed by Worthington George Smith.
It includes 28 drawings of field and cultivated
mushrooms, 323 original pen and ink, and wash process
drawings drawn ‘twice the scale of nature’ of cultivated
or garden and greenhouse plants, 36 plates of original
pen-and-ink drawings of pollen grains, 39 watercolour
drawings of British Orchidaceae, 133 sheets of outline
drawings of genera and subgenera for Smith’s ‘Synopsis
of the Basidiomycetes’ including MS. notes
on fungi and diseases of plants and 250 sheets of
magnified drawings of plants.
Exhibition and publication details This drawing has not been on public display.
References and further reading Roe, D. A., (1981) The Lower and Middle Paleolithic Periods in Britain. Routledge & Kegan Paul: London. 324pp Wymer, J., (1968) Lower Palaeolithic Archaeology in Britain. John Baker: London. 429pp English M.P. (1987) Mordecai Cubitt Cooke, Victorian Naturalist, Mycologist, Teacher & Eccentric. Biopress: Bristol. 357pp Bedfordshire Historical Record Society (1978) Worthington George Smith and other studies : presented to Joyce Godber. Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, Vol.57 pp141-79. Dyer, J. (2004) Smith, Worthington George. Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University
Press: Oxford.
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