Madras & Bombay, India; Royal Navy; Digby, Merino, Casterton & Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
George William SMITH (also known as "Bombay" SMITH) was b. 1813, Cochin, South-West India, son of Capt. William Stewart SMITH 1787-1823, Army Officer & Wilhelmina Ernestina LIEBSCHWAGER 1795-1870.
George SMITH's father died in India in 1823 and George attended school in England ca 1822, joined the Royal Navy in 1825 and served on a number of ships until about 1835. When he joined the Royal Navy in the 1825 he had an uncle George SMITH who was Secretary to the Navy in Admiralty House, London.
Given that George SMITH named one of his sons Sydenham SMITH, there is an interesting marriage in the records of St Francis Church, Cochin, India which states that Sydenham SMITH (Madras Army) married Wilhelmina Dorothea VANDERSLOOT between 1804 & 1807.
There is also a christening of a Sydenham Bong SMITH, 17 Apr 1783, father George SMITH at Fort St George, Madras, Tamil Nadu, India (IGI).
George William SMITH was married in 1840, Bombay, India to Ellen TEASDALE b. 1824, Dapoolie, Hindustan, India, dau of Major Henry Crawshay TEASDALE & ___. Major TEASDALE was killed in the Battle of Miani, India in 1843.
George & Ellen SMITH had a number of children in India before emigrating to Australia in 1852 where more children were born at Portland, Digby & Merino, Victoria.
George SMITH was the first Secretary of the Glenelg Shire from 1863-1869 which was centred on Sandford & Casterton.
George SMITH's mother, Wilhelmina Ernestina SMITH (nee LIEBSCHWAGER) 1795-1870 must have emigrated to Australia with george and his family in 1852 as she died in Merino and was buried in the Merino Cemetery in 1870. Her nephew, Charles LIEBSCHWAGER who worked as a Bailiff in the County Court at Casterton was the witness on her death certificate in 1870.
George William SMITH & Ellen TEASDALE had the following known children:
- George Henry SMITH b. 1844, India?, ...............?;
- Mary Wilhelmina SMITH b. 1846, Bombay, India, d. 1928, Melbourne, Victoria, m1. Robert ALLEYNE (chn in NSW), Robert d. 1879, m2. George WILLIAMS;
- Charles Robert SMITH b. 1849, Bombay, India, d. 1898, Melbourne, Victoria, m1. Laura COLLIER 1847-1884 (4 chn in Melbourne), m2. Annie May Barbara WATSON (div), m3. Mary ARTHUR (1 dau);
- Sydenham Nesbit SMITH b. 1851, India ?, ............?;
- Georgiana Helena SMITH b. 1852, India, d. 1907, England, m. Charles Gibson MILLAR abt 1840-1900 (chn in Melbourne);
- William Fraser SMITH b. 1853, ___, d. aft 1923, Western Australia ? m. Ellen Heprina OGILVY ca 1868-1895), chn at Swan Hill, Victoria, lived in Western Australia, one son killed in WW1 and another wounded;
- Henrietta Fredrika Anderson SMITH b. 1855 Portland, Victoria, d. 1876, Victoria;
- Arthur SMITH b. 1856 Portland, Victoria, ..........?;
- Henry Teasdale SMITH b. 1858 Merino, Victora. d. 1921, Melbourne, m. 1885 to Lydia Kate JOHNSON, Railway contractor in Tasmania, Western Australia & South Australia; 8 chn, 1 son killed at Gallipoli in 1915 (entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography).
- Amy Annie McPherson SMITH b. 1861 Digby, Victoria, d. 1880, Victoria;
- Francis SMITH b. 1863 Merino, Victoria, ................?;
- George Godwin Crouch SMITH b. 1866 Merino, Victoria, m. Florence Violet BOAKE (sister of Barcroft Henry Thomas BOAKE 1886-1892, Australian Bush Poet), chn in Melbourne, shot during an attempted bank robbery in Cape Town, South Africa in 1897;
- Francis Ralston SMITH b. 1866, Merino, Vic, m. 1894, Agnes BATHOLOMEW and ...............?
Daryl Povey
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