Worthington George Smith

Worthington George Smith (25 March 1835 – 27 October 1917) was an English cartoonist and illustrator, antiquarian, archaeologist, plant pathologist, and mycologist. Originally trained as an architect he moved to illustration and began to study and draw fungi, particularly those affecting crop plants. In the 1870s he took a special interest in archaeology, studying stone tools and other human remains. He also studied the history of Dunstable, serving as freeman of the Borough.

Background and career

Worthington G. Smith was born in Shoreditch, London, the son of civil servant George Smith and Sarah Worthington. He received an elementary education at St. John's Parochial School Shoreditch and was then apprenticed as an architect under A. E. Johnson. He married Henrietta White in 1856 and the couple had seven children, only three of whom survived childhood.

Smith worked for the architect Sir Horace Jones, becoming an expert draughtsman and a member of the Architectural Association. In 1855 he was diagnosed with a heart condition and he moved with his wife to Dunstable. Here he made excursions for studying botany and archaeology. In 1861, he left the profession (having been required to design drains for Sir Horace) and embarked on a second career as a freelance illustrator. He put his former experience to use by producing illustrations for The Builder (a journal still published today) and continued as a regular contributor for the next twenty years. He published extensively on the fungi producing illustrated books that were popular.