Adolphe Smith

Adolphe Smith Headingley (1846–1925) was a British left-wing political writer. Half-French, Smith Headingley was a member of the First International and took part in the Paris Commune. In 1877–78, he wrote and published the magazine series Street Life in London with photographer John Thomson, to raise awareness of the plight of the city's poor. Smith Headingley played a key role in organising the 1882 International Trades Union Congress and served as an interpreter at successive conferences from 1886 to 1905. It was Smith Headingley that, in the 1890s, popularised the singing of the socialist anthem "The Red Flag" to the tune of "O Tannenbaum".

Biography Smith Headingley was born in 1846 and was half French.

Smith Headingley worked with photographer John Thomson to produce the magazine series Street Life in London between 1877 and 1878. The 12-issue monthly publication documented the lives of the poor in the city and was intended to raise public awareness of the issue. The authors acknowledged that they had been inspired by a similar project from the early 1850s, London Labour and the London Poor, by journalist Henry Mayhew with woodcut prints after daguerreotypes by Richard Beard. Smith Headingley became known as "Mr. Interpreter" in trade unionist circles. He served as an interpreter at successive meetings of the International Trades Union Congress from 1886 to 1905. Its author Jim Connell had intended the tune to be sung to the Jacobite tune "The White Cockade", associated with the Irish nationalist movement that Connell supported.