SMITH, SYDNEY (1856-1934), politician and auctioneer, and SYDNEY (1880-1972), public servant and cricket administrator, were father and son. Smith senior was born on 11 April 1856 at Colyton near Penrith, New South Wales, seventh child of English parents Thomas Smith (d.1896), publican and later orchardist, and his wife Jane, née Laimbeer. Educated at National and public schools, he joined the railways branch of the Department of Public Works in March 1870 and by next February was junior clerk at Penrith. He worked as a porter, learned telegraphy and by 1877 was a stationmaster. When he resigned in 1880 he was chief clerk and assistant traffic manager.

At St Stephen's Anglican Church, Penrith, Smith married Sarah Jane Hockey (d.1907) on 25 January 1879. Next year he joined his brother Thomas Richard (Protectionist member of the Legislative Assembly for Nepean in 1877-87, 1895-98, 1901-04), in a Sydney-based auctioneering and ...

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Source:

Australian Dictionary of Biography