Stanley Parker Smith
Professor Stanley Parker Smith (1884-1953)
1953 Obituary [1]
We have learned with regret of the death of Professor Stanley Parker Smith, of "Ardshiel," Pitlochry, which occurred on Friday last, August 21st, at the Perth Royal Infirmary, following a severe operation.
Dr. Parker Smith, who was in his seventieth year, had occupied prominent positions in the profession of electrical engineering. For many years he was Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, and latterly had taken responsibility for the organisation of the staff college established by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board in 1948.
Stanley Parker Smith was born at Grantham on February 23, 1884, and was educated at Grantham Grammar School, Sedgebrook School, Armstrong College at Newcastle upon Tyne, and at the Technische Hochschule, Carlsruhe.
In 1905, he was the recipient of an 1851 Royal Exhibition Research Scholarship, and two years later took up an appointment with the Siemens Company, at Stafford, as an assistant designer. Subsequently, for three years from 1909 to 1912, Parker Smith was chief designer for the General Electric Company, Ltd.
In the latter year, he began his teaching career by becoming a lecturer and assistant professor in electrical engineering at the City and Guilds (Engineering) College. During the first world war he acted as a consultant to Vickers, Ltd., in Sheffield, and in 1923 was appointed to the Chair of Electrical Engineering at the Royal Technical College, Glasgow. Shortly after his retirement from that Chair, Dr. Parker Smith was invited, by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, in 1948, to undertake the organisation of the staff college which it set up at Pitlochry.
Throughout his long and active career, Dr. Parker Smith made many contributions to technical literature, among which there were numerous papers to the learned societies.
He was a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, served as chairman of its Scottish Centre from 1939 to 1941, and was elected a vice-president in 1942. He was also an associate member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Dr. Parker Smith received the C.B.E. in 1942 in recognition of the notable contributions which he had made to the advancement of electrical science.