George Smith

Sir George Smith (8 March 1858 – 14 June 1938) was a British civil servant. He began his career in the War Office in 1878 but joined the office of the chief secretary of British Cyprus the following year. He was promoted to assistant chief secretary in 1883 and afterwards transferred to the crown colony of British Mauritius where he was acting receiver general and chief collector of customs from 1905 to 1909. He was colonial secretary of Mauritius from 1910 to 1913 when he was appointed governor of the protectorate of Nyasaland. He held this position for ten years which included the First World War and the Chilembwe uprising. Smith encountered difficulties in relations with the Ngoni people over the hut tax and had to deal with an influx of white ex-servicemen after the war. His governorship saw advances in the transport infrastructure in Nyasaland and the cultivation of many crops.

Early career George Smith was born on 8 March 1858, the son of Hugh Smith from Darvel, Ayrshire. After receiving a private education he joined the War Office in 1878. The following year he transferred to the office of the chief secretary (the senior civil servant) of British Cyprus as a clerk.

From 1886 to 1891 Smith served as clerk to the protectorates legislative council and was acting chief secretary from May to October 1888. From 1891 he was district commissioner at Paphos. In the early part of his term Smith clashed with the tribal chiefs of the Ngoni people. Poor soil condition and overgrazing had led to a time of famine and many of the Ngoni found the hut tax unaffordable. The chiefs asked Smith to reduce the tax for the most needy, but he refused.

One of Smith's first actions during the war was to commandeer all ships on Lake Nyasa and launch an attack upon the German vessel Hermann von Wissmann at Sphinx Hafen. After the 1915 Chilembwe uprising, which he moved swiftly to quash, Smith noted that it marked "a new phase in the existence of Nyasaland" and established a commission to investigate its causes. Smith was granted responsibility for administering the former German East African territories occupied by British forces advancing from Nyasaland and sent many of his civil servants into these areas. He also set about reforming the police service, which had been a recommendation of the Chilembwe commission. During the war he greatly expanded Nyasaland's road network and expanded maize production, and also acted to control rinderpest. He died on 14 June 1938 in Addlestone of a combination of pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, and arteriosclerosis.