Lucius Smith

Lucius Smith

Lucius (Frederick Moses Bottomley) Smith was the inaugural Bishop of Knaresborough from 1905 to 1934. He was born on 6 January 1860 into a clerical family and educated at Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford.In the paternal line his grandfather was Joseph Smith (1792-1841) Alderman and Burgess of Doncaster and his great grandfather William Smith (1767-1829) merchant and property owner in Rotherham and Whitehouse near Greasborough. His Uncle Arthur Joseph Smith (1825-1891) was three times Lord Mayor of Doncaster, another uncle William Edwood Smith was twice Lord Mayor of Doncaster and Town Clerk. His cousin Walter Shirley Shirely QC MP (1851-1888) was elected the first Member of Parliament for the Doncaster Division in 1885 - he too also attended Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1882 he studied for ordination at Leeds Clergy School before a curacy in Toxteth. He was successively Vicar of Ilkley, Richmond, Easby, Calverley and Macclesfield before a 29-year stint as Suffragan Bishop of Knaresborough. He was also Archdeacon of Ripon during the same period. He was also Archdeacon of Leeds (1921-1934) during which time he also president of the Antiquarian Thoresby Society. A thoughtful cleric, devout patriot and historian, he died on 31 December 1934.

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