Linton Smith Explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Reverend
Linton Smith
Bishop of Rochester
Church:Church of England
Diocese:Diocese of Rochester
Elected:1930
Ended:1940
Predecessor:John Harmer
Successor:Christopher Chavasse
Other Post:Bishop of Hereford
1920–1930
Bishop of Warrington
1918–1920
Ordination:1894
Consecration:c. 1918
Birth Date:4 July 1869
Religion:Anglican
Parents:James Allan Smith
Spouse:Kathleen Dewe
Children:some children
Profession:Soldier
Alma Mater:Hertford College, Oxford

Martin Linton Smith, [1] (4 July 1869 – 7 October 1950) was an Anglican bishop who served in three dioceses during the first half of the twentieth century.

Life

Smith was born into a clerical family – his father was the Very Revd James Allan Smith, Dean of St David's Cathedral from 1904 until his death in 1918[2] He died in post during November 1918.[3] – and educated at Repton and Hertford College, Oxford.[4] Ordained priest in 1894 he was a curate at four parishes before securing his own incumbency at Colchester in 1902.[5] By now married to Kathleen Dewe with a young family, he gained experience in Liverpool eventually becoming a Cathedral Canon. His finest hour, however, was the First World War where he gained the DSO for his sterling work at The Somme, Arras and Ypres. He had been appointed a Temporary Chaplain to the Forces in April, 1915, serving at first in Prescott before being posted abroad. [6] He was also Mentioned in Despatches. [7]

When peace came he was raised to the episcopate, firstly for two years as the suffragan Bishop of Warrington; then translated[8] to the more senior post of diocesan Bishop of Hereford in 1920, serving there for a decade; and, finally, a further nine years as Bishop of Rochester. Retiring to Cheltenham in 1940 he died after a long life "rich in service".

Notes

  1. The Times, 9 October 1950; p. 6, "Bishop Linton Smith former Bishop of Rochester"
  2. http://www.stdavidscathedral.org.uk/index.php?id=721 Cathedral web-site
  3. [The Times]
  4. "Who was Who" 1897–1990 London, A & C Black, 1991
  5. Book: [[Richard Malden|Malden Richard (ed)]] . Crockford's Clerical Directory for 1920 (51st edn) . London . The Field Press. 1578. 1920 .
  6. TNA, WO374/63647
  7. The Times,, 2 August 1930, on appointment to Rochester
  8. New Suffragan Bishop. (Official Appointments and Notices) The Times 29 July 1920; p. 12

Works

Lambeth and Reunion: An Interpretation of the Mind of the Lambeth Conference of 1920, with Frank Theodore Woods and Martin Linton Smith (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1921).

Book cited