Early Victorian Portraits Catalogue

William Henry Smyth (1788-1865), Admiral and scientific writer

Admiral and scientific writer; in active naval service, c.1804-24; charted Mediterranean coasts, 1815-24; FRS, 1826; founder-member of Royal Geographical Society and president, 1849-50; built an observatory; contributed many papers to the Royal Astronomical Society, and was president, 1845-6; contributed papers to numerous societies; published scientific and naval works; admiral, 1863.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Ormond, Early Victorian Portraits, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1973, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.