Ernest Alfred Smith
Ernest Alfred Smith (c1867-1949)
1948/49 Obituary [1]
ERNEST ALFRED SMITH, A.R.S.M. Mr. E. A. Smith died after a short illness at his home in Hastings on 7 April 1949, aged 81.
Ernest Alfred Smith was born in London and was educated at the North London Collegiate School. He was the second son of Richard Smith, who was associated with Dr. Percy for so many years at the Royal School of Mines.
Ernest Smith entered the Royal School of Mines in 1885 and graduated A.R.S.M. in 1888.
His first post was in the City of London, with Mr. Kitto, Chemist and Assayer, from which he was called in 1890 to fill an emergency gap as Lecturer in Metallurgy and Assaying at the Royal College of Science, Dublin, during the illness of Professor Hartley.
On returning from Dublin he was appointed to the Royal School of Mines staff under Professor Roberts-Austen. In 1895 he was again called upon to deputize for Professor Hartley in Dublin fora time. It is of passing interest to note that in 1897 he was runner-up to Thomas Turner for the new professorship of metallurgy at Mason College, Birmingham. Instead he was appointed in 1898 to the Assay Office, Sheffield, as Deputy Assay Master, where he served for over 20 years.
Mr. Smith then became the first secretary of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association when that body was established in offices in Temple Row, Birmingham, in 1920. Later he returned to the precious metal field with the Sheffield Smelting Company and subsequently (1932) with Oakes, Turner, and Co. (an associate company of Johnson, Matthey and Co., Ltd.), also in Sheffield.
He retired in 1939 and moved south again, to Hastings, largely on account of his wife's health. Of the five books which he wrote, the first was "Dental Metallurgy", produced at the request of students. It became widely known and its sixth edition was published in 1947. There followed: "The Zinc Industry", "The Platinum Metals", "Working in Precious Metals", and "The Sampling and Assay of the Precious Metals", of which latter reference book a new edition also appeared in 1947.
Mr. Smith was an Original Member of the Institute of Metals and contributed several papers to its Journal. He also presented many papers to other scientific societies and to the technical press over a period of 50 years, his last contributions being as recent as January 1949; and he lectured to various trade societies in London, Birmingham, and Sheffield. He had a deep interest in the noble metals and their manipulation, both in modern times and in antiquity. Mr. Smith was the first Freeman and Silver Medallist of the Silver Trades Technical Society, and was honorary scientific adviser to the Birmingham Jewellers' Association, for which he carried out several investigations. For many years he was a Fellow of the Chemical Society, a member of the Society of Chemical Industry, and a member of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. A firm Congregationalist, Mr. Smith was for many years Superintendent of the Broompark Mission Sunday School, Sheffield, and on repeated occasions was both Secretary and Treasurer of Endcliffe Park Chapel. Later he became a deacon of Broompark Church; and even after retiring he undertook, under war-time pressure, the secretaryship of Robertson Street Congregational Church, Hastings.
Mr. Smith leaves two daughters and two sons; both of the latter have followed the family metallurgical interest, and are also members of the Institute of Metals.