Florence Annette SMITHSON, Welsh Soprano/actress/pantomimist 1884-1936 This star of the Edwardian stage was born in Wales, daughter of Will SMITHSON, actor and provincial theatre manager (?East and West Midlands?) – mother possibly Madame Florence ANNETTA, actress and pantomimist. All three names may be stage names. Florence SMITHSON first married in Merthyr Tydfil in 1901 to […]
People
So who won the Enos challenge?
Some 10 years or so ago I set a challenge to readers of this site to find the ancestry of Enos Smithson born 1778 in Langthorpe. At the time I’d had a number of discussions with Bill Smithson of Killinghall who had been most helpful with his own research but we couldn’t find where Enos […]
Charles Dickens – The Malton Connection
Charles Dickens’ close link with Malton stemmed from his friendship with Charles Smithson, a member of a Solicitor’s family who practised in Chancery Lane, Malton and shared also in the London firm Smithson and Dunn. Charles Smithson was the eleventh child and sixth son of Richard and Sarah Smithson. He was baptised at St Michael’s […]
Thomas Smithson – Mayor of Ripon, 1890 to 1892
His badge on the baldric bears the Arms of the Butchers’ Company, with the crest of the Smithson family – a squirrel sejant cracking a nut ppr. – and the motto “Nihil sine labore.” Arms: Az. two slaughter axes indorsed in saltire ar. handled or, betw. three bulls’ heads, couped of the second, armed of […]
The Enos Challenge
I am aware that a number of people may have drawn a blank in finding the parents of Enos Smithson of Langthorpe (born 1779). So, here’s the challenge – has anyone successfully connected Enos to his parents? Here’s what we know of Enos: Census data shows him to be born about 1779 in Langthorpe. 1841 […]
Gerald Smithson, Cricketer for Yorkshire, Leicestershire and England, 1926-1970
Entry in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac Gerald Arthur Smithson, who died suddenly on 6 September 1970, aged 43, played for Yorkshire in 1946 and 1947, his highest innings for the county being 169 against Leicestershire at Leicester in the second year. Conscripted as a Bevin Boy in the mines after the war, he received special permission, after his […]
Forrest Smithson – Olympic Champion
Forrest Custer Smithson (September 26, 1884 – November 24, 1962) was an American athlete, winner of 110m hurdles at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Born in Portland, Oregon, Forrest Smithson, a student of theology from Yale University, was an AAU champion in 1907 and 1909 in 120yd hurdles. At the 1908 games in London, the main […]
The Bequest of Mark Smithson of Aldborough
The Church of St Andrew, in Aldborough in the Diocese of Ripon has a huge board on the wall inside the church tower where the full text of Mark Smithson’s bequest is written. The shelf for the bread for the poor is still there just inside the door. I think it’s used for hymn books […]
The Smithson Obsession – Berlioz and his passion for Harriet Smithson
By all accounts, Harriet (aka Henrietta, or Henriette) Smithson was a friendly, attractive, and available young woman, making her a likely candidate for the admiration of Belioz, or any young man. But it was her portrayal of Ophelia in the 1827 performance of Hamlet that won the heart of Berlioz, and, along with her successive […]