Dan Smith

Relationship to me:	Grandfather	Gen -2	Dan Smith in later life See more photos at bottom of page
Born:	13 Apr 1878, Bonar, Sutherland, Scotland
Died:	26 Jan 1934, Sutton (SW London)
Age	55

Father:	Alexander Smith (see notes below)	1839 - c1878
Mother:	Margaret née Young (see notes below)	b. c1844 - ????
Brothers:	James	b. c1864
	Simon	b. c1867
	Alex	b. c1869
	John	b. c1871
Sisters:	None

Married:	Mary Helena Nelson Richards (née Wake) m. 11th Oct 1905	1874 - 1969
Children:	Margaret Helena (m. Newman)	1907 - 1965
	Phyllis (m. Evans)	1910 - 1986

Dan Smith came from Black Isle in the North of Scotland. He was a pharmacist and businessman who owned "Smith and Campbell" pharmacy shops in Karachi and Lahore (both then being part of India).

Dan's birth was registered at Bonar Bridge, Sutherland where his birth date is given as 13 Apr 1878. His a mother is recorded as Margaret Smith née Young, married in Rosemarkie in 18th Sept 1867. His father's name is given as Alexander, who is described as a "salmon-fisher (deceased)". Bonar Bridge is some 30 miles north of the Black Isle where Dan Smith was reputed to have come from. Rosemarkie (where his parents were married) is a village on the coast Black Isle facing the Moray Firth.

Daniel Smith again appears in the 1881 census where he is shown as the youngest of five sons of Margaret Smith, widow, aged 34, living at 18 High St, Union Tavern, Fortrose, Ross & Cromarty, Scotland, whose occupation was Innkeeper. Fortrose is just a mile south of Rosemarkie. No doubt Dan named his eldest daughter Margaret Helena after his mother.

Map of Scotland showing Bonar Bridge where Dan Smith was born, Fortose where he grew up, and Aberdeen where his father's family came from.
Rosemarkie, where his mother's family came from is a mile north of Fortrose on the penninsular called the "Black Isle".

Looking northwest along the Dornoch Firth towards Bonar Bridge
(about 50 miles from John O' Groats on the northern coast of Scotland )

The two photos (above) are described in my mother's handwriting as being of Dan Smith and his father. I had assumed that they both taken at the same time, however this could not have been the case since Dan's father died before Dan's birth was registered.

Two other Dan Smiths were born in (or living in) the Ross and Cromarty area around the same time - at the time of the 1881 census: one (aged 2) was living in Rosemount Farm, Tain, and the other (aged 6) was living in Stornaway on the Isle of Lewis. Confirmation that my grandfather Dan Smith came from Fortrose came from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society who wrote to me in Oct 2007 to say: "Daniel Smith passed the minor examination and registered as a Chemist and Druggist on 18th April 1900, certificate number 13307. His address on registration is given as 18 High Street, Fortrose. He remains at this address until his name is removed from the register for non-payment of fees in 1906 which is not surprising as by then he had moved to India. His name does not appear again on the register so it would seem that he didn't return to work as a pharmacist on his return to England. No obituaries have been found in either the Pharmaceutical Journal or the Chemist & Druggist".

Dan and Helena ("Gran Smith") were married at the Church of Scotland in Quetta, India, on 11th October 1905. Their marriage certificate states Dan to have been a bachelor or "mature age" (no birth date given) and his residence at the time was Quetta, whereas Helena's appears to have been at Lovedale Nilgiris (presumably where her school was located). Dan's father's name is given as Alexander Smith.

William John Fraser Campbell 1879 - 1943

Dan joined forces with a Scottish compatriot by the name of William John Fraser Campbell with whom he set up a pharmacy firm by the name of Smith & Campbell (described below). Campbell's g-granddaughter Nicola Gapp tells that William Campbell was almost the same age as Dan (b. 1879) and had a very similar background, his father having been a farmer in Nairn directly across the Moray Firth from Fortrose. Hence it is not unlikely that the pair could have travelled to India together. Like Dan, William also met his wife in Quetta, where they married in 1909 (four years later than Dan). His wife was also a teacher and also something of a "tartar", while William (like Dan) seems to have been a rather gentle soul. However, unlike Dan, William remained in India carrying on the business until his death in 1943. He is buried in Lahore.

After 15 years of life together in India, Dan and Helena returned to England in 1921 where they lived in what appears to have been quite a grand house called Mylesdown, 44 Mayfield Road, Sutton, Surrey. Presumably he had returned to England a wealthy man.

From my mother's account, Dan was an easy-going father to whom she would appeal against the rulings of her strict mother. My mother told me that Dan was a gambler and that he lost a lot of money, leaving his widow (Gran Smith) to manage with what funds she had ferreted away (which she did very successfully through the accumulation of well-chosen shares in growing companies such asMarks and Spencer and Woolworths). I therefore assumed that Dan must have "gambled" on the stock market and lost all his money during the 1929 crash. However the probate certificate attached to his Will shows that the gross value of his estate was £11,732 which was not an insubstantial sum in those days, equivalent to over half a million pounds in 2010 values. But perhaps he did lose a lot of money in "The Crash" and perhaps my grandmother gave him a hard time about it. She certainly let it be known that he turned to drink in his later years - perhaps to drown his sorrows.

Dan died of lobar pneumonia on 26 Jan 1934 in his house at Mylesdown (see death certificate). He was aged only 55. Only his step-son George Richards is recorded as being present at his death. He is buried in Sutton. In his Will, Dan left his estate to his wife Mary Helena Nelson Smith, save for two bequests - one to a cousin Louisa Whiting of £150 and the other to Denis Smith of 49 Seward Road, Hanwell of £100. It may be that Denis Smith was a relation, but being such a common name, there is no certainty about it.

It would be interesting to discover how Dan Smith advanced from being the youngest son of a deceased fisherman brought up in a pub in the North of Scotland, to become a pharmacist running his own business in India. His early life was probably an interesting one, as (no doubt) was his time in India.

It is not known when firm of Smith & Campbell was established, but it is possible that Dan Smith and William Campbell (both of whom were of similar age and came from the North of Scotland) may have been friends who travelled out to India together around 1905. Given that Dan Smith's name was removed from the register of the (British) Royal Pharmaceutical Society in 1906, it seems likely that he travelled to India in 1905 since he was married there (in Quetta) in October of that year.

Nicola Gapp's mother (William Campbell's grand-daughter) recalls that the firm was involved in the supply (and perhaps manufacture) or distilled water, which was probably in great demand amongst the colonial communiity at that time. My father also recalled that the firm ran a profitable business supplying ice to the trains of the North Western Railway.

It appears that William Campbell lived (and died) in Lahore, whereas Dan Smith lived in Karachi where my mother was born (in 1907) and spent her early childhood. Hence it is probable that William managed the Lahore end of the business while Dan looked after Karachi (1000 km away to the south-west). Their business strategy may therefore have been to supply ice to the main termini at both ends of the North Western Railway.

Lahore: William Campbell's g-granddaughter Nicola Gapp has kindly sent a photo of Smith & Campbell's outlet in Lahore below (click here for full-size image). The photo was taken at the time of the 1922 visit of the then Prince of Wales (who was later to become King Edward VIII). Smith & Campbell's premises can be seen at the left-hand end of the building.

Nicola notes that the colonial-style building is still in existence and can be seen in a photo on Google Earth at 31^o33' 43.35"N 74^o19' 10.90"E. A photo of it appears under the name "Legacy of the British Raj" (reproduced below). [The building is some 2.5 km from the main railway station.]

Karachi: http://www.dawn.com/2003/09/21/fea.htm describes where Smith and Campbell's pharmacy was in Karachi: "By 1914, the time when the First World War started, the shops from the Regal Crossing to Charing Cross make interesting reading. To the left at Regal was Ranken & Co., civil and military tailors and outfitters. This tailoring concern had branches at Calcutta, Simla, Delhi, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Murree. Established in 1770 in Calcutta, it was among the first tailoring concerning "on Special Appointment" to the Company, and later on the governor-general. Then came the Civil & Military Gazette Press, followed by Cutler Palmer & Co., wine merchants. A few shops later came Smith and Campbell the Chemists and then was Richards & Co., drapers and tailors. Next door was Walter Locke and Co., gunsmiths and then was the shop of Mr. J.D. Bevan, the piano dealer."

Unfortunately the photos from my mother's collection of street scenes in what I assume to be Karachi, don't show any of the above names. However I include copies of these photos below in case anyone can recognise where they were taken. Most prominent amongst the store names is J. Bliss, Chemist which belonged to another Scots pharmacist by the name of Joseph Bliss. His great-grandson Jonathan contacted me in January 2006, and later in the year sent me his transcription of handwritten notes of a speech that Joseph Bliss presented to the Society of Pharmacists in Glasgow around 1909. The paper presents a fascinating picture of business and life in India at the turn of the century, and is no doubt a reasonably close description of Dan Smith's life there.

Note: One of the witnesses recorded on Dan's marriage certificate was Isabel Bliss. Perhaps she was related to Joseph Bliss. Certainly it is likely that Dan Smith and Joseph Bliss were well acquainted.

Presumably the lady on the camel is my grandmother, Mary Helena Nelson (née Wake), but I don't know who her co-rider is.
It doesn't look like Dan Smith nor her son Dick Richards.

I cannot identify the photos below, other than the notes that I have included below each

J. Bliss, Chemist (centre) as referred to in the note above.
Next door on the right is Noorbhai Jafferji & Sons, dealers in
Saddlery, Coach Iron-Mongery & Shoe Mercery

Same location as above - taken in front of J. Bliss Pharmacy, with Noorbhai Jafferji & Sons on right

This photo was supposedly taken in Elphington Street, Karachi. Unfortunately this street cannot be found on Google Maps

This photo was taken from almost exactly the same spot as the photo of Dan's girls above. The building at the far right is immediately behind the girls' heads in the preceding photo.
[Even using a high resolution scan I cannot make out the names of the shops.]

Previously modified - 10th May 2011 - information and photos from Nicola Gapp added relating to Smith & Campbell's pharmacies.
Previously modified - 5th March 2008 - information about Dan's Will and Probate certificate added.
Previously modified 6th Nov 2007 - confirmation of Dan's parents and link to copy of his death certificate added.
Previously modified 1st Oct 2007 - new information on Dan's possible parents added.
Previously modified 24th Sept 2007 - link to 1905 marriage certificate showing father to be Alexander Smith.
Previously modified 22nd July 2007 - reference added to Mylesdown, where Dan died.
Previously modified 2nd Jan 2007 - link added to Joseph Bliss's speech notes;
Page created: 28 Jun 2005