William Henry Smyth
| William Henry Smyth | |
|---|---|
Smyth, as depicted in his The Sailor's Word-Book
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| Born |
21 January 1788 Westminster, London |
| Died | 8 September 1865 (aged 77) Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire |
| Buried at | Stone, Buckinghamshire |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1804–1846 |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Commands held |
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| Battles/wars |
Napoleonic Wars • Walcheren Campaign • Siege of Cádiz |
| Other work | Astronomer and numismatist |
Admiral William Henry Smyth KFM DCL FRS FRAS FRGS FSA (21 January 1788 – 8 September 1865) was an English naval 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.
William Smyth was born at 42 Great Peter Street, Westminster, London. He was the only son of Joseph Smyth and Georgina Caroline Pitt Pilkington, granddaughter of the Irish writer Laetitia Pilkington and her husband Matthew Pilkington, both protégés of Jonathan Swift.
William Smyth's father, Joseph Brewer Palmer Smyth, was born in 1737 in New Jersey, the son of Benjamin Smyth (born 1700 in Woolpack, New Jersey, died 1769, in Knowlton, N.J.), himself the son of Benjamin Smyth (died 1720). Joseph was a colonial American and a merchant and land owner in Knowlton, Sussex, New Jersey. He was a British loyalist and in January 1777 he was commissioned as Lt in the King's Royal Regiment of New York. However, he escaped to Niagara at the start of the American Revolution. In November 1778 he sailed for New York, but was captured. He eventually reached Falmouth, Cornwall, in January, 1779 "in a most forlorn condition", destitute and suffering from fever and smallpox. In 1780 he married Georgina Pilkington in England. He was in Niagara in 1788.
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