XVI 



Captain GEOFFEEY WATKINS SMITH. 



By the death in action on July 10, 1916, of Captain Creoffrey W. Smith we 

 have lost one of the most brilliant of the younger generation of zoologists. 

 He was born in 1881, the youngest son of the well-known "Westminster 

 magistrate, Mr. Horace Smith, and Mrs. Smith, of Ivy Bank, Beckenhara. 

 Starting his school career at Temple Grove School, he went to Winchester 

 College, and afterwards to New College, Oxford, where he was given a 

 scholarship in 1900. After taking his degree in Zoology, he devoted himself 

 to research and to teaching both in his College and in the Department of 

 Comparative Anatomy in the University Museum. In 1907 he was elected 

 Fellow and Lecturer of New College, and some years later became Tutor. 

 When the war broke out he volunteered his services, joined the O.T.C., and 

 soon obtained a commission in the Eitle Brigade. He was killed by a shell 

 in a trench just captured from the Germans, near Pozieres, in France. 



Geoffrey Watkins Smith will be deeply regretted by all who knew him. 

 His was a particularly charming personality, a rare combination of simplicity 

 and youthful gaiety, with a refined and truly cultured mind ; " one of those 

 bright and joyous spirits whose presence seems to shed happiness." Of a 

 most lovable character, of unfailing good humour and courtesy, he endeared 

 himself to all those with whom he came in contact. His pupils and 

 colleagues in Oxford were no less devoted to him than the men he led at the 

 Front. Geofi'rey Smith was a man of wide interests and keen appreciations, 

 yet his learning sat lightly on him. He was no recluse, and thoroughly 

 enjoyed the good things of life. Fond of all kinds of sport, he excelled 

 especially in golf and lawn-tennis, where his elegant figure and graceful 

 movements showed to the best advantage. He delighted in good literature, 

 whether English or foreign, prose or poetry, and himself was the author of 

 a little volume of charming Christmas carols and of other poems, having, 

 doubtless, inherited his literary gifts through his father.. Indeed, the 

 excellent style of his scientific writings adds much to their value. 



Geoffrey Smith early became interested in natural histor}^, and as a mere 

 schoolboy contributed notes on birds to the ' Zoologist ' (1898). Before 

 taking his degree he paid- a short visit to Prof. E. Hertwig's laboratory in 

 Munich, where he completed some work on " The Mass Eelations of Nucleus 

 and Cytoplasm in Actinosphperium " (' Biometrika,' vol. 2, 1903). Although 

 his next paper was an embryological study " On the Development of the 

 Columella Auris in Birds" (' Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci.,' 1904), he soon became 

 absorbed in the study of the wider problems of heredity and evolution he 

 met in his investigations on sex and parasitism. Having completed his 

 course at Oxford and obtained the University Scholarship at Naples, he went 

 out to Italy in 1903, arid devoted his attention more especially to the 



