George Adam Smith

Note in particular that this George Smith is to be distinguished from George Smith (Assyriologist) (1840–1876) who researched in some overlapping areas.

Sir George Adam Smith (19 October 1856 – 3 March 1942) was a Scottish theologian. He was the Principal of the University of Aberdeen between 1909 and 1935 and an important figure in the United Free Church of Scotland. His magnum opus was The Historical Geography of the Holy Land, published in 26 editions between 1894 and 1935.

Life

He was born in Calcutta, where his father, George Smith, C.I.E., was then Principal of the Doveton College, a boys' school in Madras. His mother was Janet Colquhoun Smith (née Adam). By 1870 the family had returned to Scotland and were living at Scagore House in Seafield, Edinburgh.

He was educated at Edinburgh in the Royal High School. He then studied Divinity at the University of Edinburgh and the New College, graduating MA in 1875.

After studying for summer semesters as a postgraduate at the University of Tübingen (1876) and the University of Leipzig (1878) and travelling in Egypt and Syria, he was ordained into the Free Church of Scotland in 1882 and served at the Queen's Cross Free Church in Aberdeen.

In 1892 he was appointed Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament subjects in the Free Church College at Glasgow. In 1900 (at its creation) he moved from the Free Church of Scotland to the United Free Church of Scotland.

In 1909, he was appointed Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, a post he held until his retirement in 1935. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1916, and was knighted in the same year.