Page:A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices.djvu/247

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Sleigh — Smith.
227
SLEIGH, WILLIAM CAMPBELL.
Serjeant-at-Law.
1818—1887.

Admitted 18 January, 1843.

Eldest son of William Willcocks Sleigh, M.D., of Bull House, Buckingham. He was born in Dublin. He was called to the Bar 30 Jan. 1846, became Serjeant-at-Law in 1868, and was the last person not a judge to be received into Serjeant's Inn. He had a great reputation at the Criminal Bar, and took part in many famous trials, including the Tichborne case. For some time he practised in Australia, but returned to England in 1886 and died 23 Jan. the following year.

He published treatises on Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister (1850), on the Grand Jury System (1852), on Criminal Law (1858), and on Personal Wrongs and Legal Remedies (1860).


SMIRKE, Sir EDWARD.
Antiquary.
1795—1875.

Admitted 2 August, 1816.

Third son of Robert Smirke, Painter, of Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy Square. He was born in Marylebone and educated at Cambridge, where he graduated Twelfth Wrangler in 1816, and won the Chancellor's medal for the English poem on "Wallace," in 1815. He was called to the Bar 12 Nov. 1824. In 1844 he became Solicitor-General to the Prince of Wales and subsequently Attorney-General and Vice-Warden of the Stannaries. In 1846 he was Recorder of Southampton. He gave much study to the subject of Archæology, particularly of ancient charters, and to the history of mining in Cornwall, of which he wrote a treatise in 1843. He died in Kensington, 4 March, 1875.


SMITH, GEORGE.
Nonjuring Divine.
1693—1756.

Admitted 3 February, 1709-10.

Son and heir of the Rev. John Smith, S.T.P., of Durham, where he was born 7 May, 1693. He was educated at Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford, where his tutor was Edward Thwaites, the celebrated Greek and Anglo-Saxon scholar. Inheriting a good fortune he was enabled to pursue his studies unembarrassed, and in 1715 undertook the task of editing the works of Bede, a task he concluded in 1722. He then took Orders in the Nonjuring Church and was consecrated "Bishop of Durham." He died 4 Nov. 1756.

Besides his edition of Bede he wrote several pamphlets on ecclesiastical and doctrinal matters, most of them published anonymously, and he assisted Carte in his History of England, and Thomas Bedford in his edition of Symeon of Durham.


SMITH or SMYTH, JOHN.
Antiquary and Genealogist.
1567—1640.

Admitted 17 August, 1594.

Son and heir of Thomas Smyth of Hoby, Leicestershire. He was admitted from Clement's Inn. In early days he found a patron in Henry, Lord Berkeley, who made him steward of the manor of Berkeley. He lived in the castle there and devoted himself to the study of its muniments and records, from which he compiled the Lives of the Lords from the Conquest down to 1628. He died at Nibley, the manor of which he possessed, in 1640. A portion of his Lives is incorporated in Dugdale's Baronage, 1675—6.