Augustus Smith (politician)

Augustus John Smith (15 September 1804 – 31 July 1872) was Lord Proprietor of the Isles of Scilly for over thirty years, and was largely responsible for the economy of the islands as it is today.

Smith was born in 1804 "at the house of a fashionable accoucheur in Harley Street", London before returning to the family home of Ashlyns Hall in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. He became known locally as a philanthropist, doing his best to improve educational standards in his home district, opening several non-denominational schools with his own money. In 1834 he acquired the lease on the Isles of Scilly from the Duchy of Cornwall for £20,000, and set about changing the islanders' way of life, expelling those who could not find a job locally and reforming the long-neglected leaseholds of the smaller islands, where systematic sub-letting and underinvestment had left the population in a state where subsistence was the best that could be hoped for, and famine a constant threat.

In 1861, Augustus Smith Esq, MP published A True and Faithful History of the Family of Smith, Originally Cradled at Wiverton and Cropwell-Butler, in the Parish of Titheby, and more recently established at Nottingham, in the County of Nottingham. As the title suggests, it traces the family name from its early beginnings and purports ″the county of Nottingham may justly be considered as the fatherland of Smiths, who have always abounded within its borders″.

In 1866 Lord Brownlow tried to enclose Berkhamsted Common with 5' steel fences built by Woods of Berkhamsted and therefore, claim it as part of his estate. Augustus Smith MP brought out a gang of navvies on a specially chartered train to roll up the fence and leave it within sight of Brownlow's house, demonstrating his will to protect Berkhamsted Common for the people of Berkhamsted. This and his actions in promoting working class education are commemorated by the award of the Augustus Smith scholarship for state school students in Berkhamsted.

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