Smith, Benjamin Leigh, 1828-1913

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Benjamin Leigh Smith was born on 12 March 1828 at Whatlington, Sussex. He was educated at the Nonconformist Bruce Castle School and, in 1848, was elected a pensioner of Jesus College, Cambridge, becoming the first dissenter to receive a BA degree. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1856, but never practised.

Smith embarked on his first voyage to the Arctic in 1871 when he sailed in the ketch Samson to Svalbard on the British Exploring Expedition, reaching latitude 81° 24 minutes North and making accurate surveys of several small islands for the first time. He returned to Svalbard in Samson the following year, first visiting Jan Mayen where the expedition made a brief survey before proceeding to the northwest coast of Spitsbergen to hunt whales. In 1873, Smith took the steamer Diana on the British Exploring Expedition to explore in waters north of Svalbard. After delivering supplies to Nils Otto Gustaf Nordenskild's expedition at Mosselbukta, Diana was beset for a short time off Kapp Platen, thus preventing further progress. The expedition returned to Dundee in September with a variety of natural history collections and observations.

Smith made his next voyage to the Arctic in 1880 when he took the screw barquentine Eira to Svalbard and Russian Arctic waters, exploring 176 km of new coast in Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa. He returned to extend the exploration of Zemlya Frantsa-Iosifa on the British Exploring Expedition, 1881-1882. After Eira was nipped in the ice and sank off Mys Flora in August 1881, the crew lived in a makeshift hut for ten months, setting out in the ship's four boats in June 1882 and reaching Novaya Zemlya, where they met Hope commanded by Allen Young. The expedition sailed back to Aberdeen in August 1882. Smith was awarded the Patron's medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his discoveries and was elected an honorary fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge in 1882. He made no further Arctic expeditions but continued his interest in polar exploration and the whaling trade. He died on 4 January 1913 at Hampstead.

From the guide to the Benjamin Leigh Smith collection, 1855-1882, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn William Blechynder collection, 1876 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn Joseph Wiggins collection, 1876 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn Robert Martin collection, 1881 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn Bodichon, Barbara Leigh Smith, 1827-1891. Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon collection, 1857-1858. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn Hans Gundersen collection, 1881 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn William Neale collection, 1881-1925 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn Benjamin Leigh Smith collection, 1855-1882 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn F W A Rosenthal collection, 1876 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn William Grant collection, 1880-1881 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn Bodichon, Barbara Leigh Smith, 1827-1891. Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon collection, 1857-1858. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
referencedIn Album materials, 1777-1925 American Philosophical Society
referencedIn Robert Soloman collection, 1876 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn William Walker collection, 1873 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn Alexander Fairweather collection, 1889 Scott Polar Research Institute
creatorOf Benjamin Leigh Smith collection, 1855-1882 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn Anne Leigh Smith collection, 1882 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn Magnus Giver collection, 1881 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn David Bruce collection, 1877-1881 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn Barbara Bodichon collection, 1882 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn August Petermann collection, 1854-1876 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn William Lofley collection, 1880-1881 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn Sholto Bowles collection, 1880 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn David Gray collection, 1876-1892 Scott Polar Research Institute
referencedIn Papers of Benjamin Leigh Smith (1828-1913), 1871 Edinburgh University Library
referencedIn Herbert Chermside collection, 1871-1873 Scott Polar Research Institute
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Anne Leigh Smith person
associatedWith Baxter William person
associatedWith Blechynder, William person
associatedWith Blythe Isabella person
associatedWith Bodichon, Barbara Leigh Smith, 1827-1891. person
associatedWith British Exploring Expedition North Russia 1881-1882 corporateBody
associatedWith British Exploring Expedition Svalbard 1871 corporateBody
associatedWith Bruce, David person
associatedWith Chermside Herbert Charles 1850-1929 person
associatedWith Fairweather, Alexander person
associatedWith F W A Rosenthal person
associatedWith Giver Magnus K person
associatedWith Gray, David person
associatedWith Gundersen, Hans person
associatedWith Herbert Charles Chermside person
associatedWith Lofley William person
associatedWith Lofley, William person
associatedWith Magnus K Giver person
associatedWith Martin, Robert person
associatedWith Mill Hugh Robert 1861-1950 person
associatedWith Neale William Henry d 1939 person
associatedWith Petermann, August person
associatedWith Robert M Soloman person
associatedWith Sholto Stillingfleet Bowles person
associatedWith Smith Benjamin Leigh 1828-1913 person
associatedWith Walker, William person
associatedWith Wiggins, Joseph person
associatedWith William Henry Neale person
associatedWith William John Alexander Grant person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Arctic regions Discovery and exploration
Subject
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1828-03-12

Death 1913-01-04

Britons

English

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