Editing John Smith (dentist)

{{short description|Scottish dentist, philanthropist and pioneering educator}}
{{Other people|John Smith}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}

[[File:John Smith Jnr.png|thumb]]
[[File:11 Wemyss Place, Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|John Smith's dental surgery on the ground floor of 11 Wemyss Place, Edinburgh]]
[[File:The grave of John Smith, Warriston Cemetery.JPG|thumb|The grave of John Smith, [[Warriston Cemetery]]]]
'''John Smith''' {{Post-nominals|post-noms=[[Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh|FRSE]] [[PRCSEd]] LLD}} (1825–1910) was a Scottish dentist, philanthropist and pioneering educator. The founder of the [[Edinburgh]] school of [[dentistry]],<ref>[http://bdalib.answeb.co.uk/amlibweb/webquery.dll?v1=pbMarc&v20=14&v27=14945&v40=98806&v46=98810 British Dental Journal 1910; 31: 388-93] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812070108/http://bdalib.answeb.co.uk/amlibweb/webquery.dll?v1=pbMarc&v20=14&v27=14945&v40=98806&v46=98810 |date=12 August 2011 }}</ref> he served as president of the [[Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh]] (1883) and president of the
[[British Dental Association]].<ref name="Smith">{{cite web|url=http://www.library.rcsed.ac.uk/docs/GD2_Papers_of_John_Smith.pdf|title=Papers of John Smith|last=Smith|first=John|publisher=Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Library & Archive|access-date=30 May 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725001834/http://www.library.rcsed.ac.uk/docs/GD2_Papers_of_John_Smith.pdf|archive-date=25 July 2011}}</ref> He was the official surgeon/dentist to [[Queen Victoria]] when in Scotland.<ref>Grave of John Smith, Warriston Cemetery</ref>

==Life==
Smith was born in Edinburgh, the son of dental surgeon John Smith. His family lived at 30 Frederick Street in the [[New Town, Edinburgh|New Town]].<ref>Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1825-26</ref>

He was educated at the [[Stewart's Melville College|Edinburgh Institution]], the [[University of Edinburgh]] (MD 1847) and the [[Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh|Royal College of Surgeons]]. He conducted postgraduate studies in London and Paris, making drawings of gunshot and sabre wounds.<ref name="Smith" /> He took over his father's dental practice in 1851.

In 1856 Smith started teaching the first regular courses on dental physiology and diseases in Scotland. His lectures were given at [[Surgeons' Hall]] as part of the [[Edinburgh Extramural School of Medicine]].<ref name="Smith" /> He was surgeon dentist to the [[Royal Public Dispensary]]. He co-founded the [[Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh|Hospital for Sick Children]] in 1859. Recognising the need for improved training, he founded, together with [[Francis Brodie Imlach]], [[Peter Orphoot]] and [[Robert Nasmyth]], the [[Edinburgh Dental Dispensary]] in 1860.<ref>{{Cite web| title=A Short History of Dentistry in Edinburgh | url=https://museum.rcsed.ac.uk/media/4014/dentistry_history.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628115415/http://www.museum.rcsed.ac.uk:80/media/4014/dentistry_history.pdf | archive-date=2014-06-28}}</ref>

In 1862 Smith was elected a member of the [[Harveian Society of Edinburgh]] and served as president in 1888.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://wellcomecollection.org/works/ww4e59xv|title= A Record of the Edinburgh Harveian Society|last=Watson Wemyss|first=Herbert Lindesay|publisher=T&A Constable, Edinburgh|year=1933|language=en}}</ref> In 1871 he was appointed Surgeon Dentist to [[Queen Victoria]],<ref name="Smith" /> and elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]], upon the nomination of [[John Hutton Balfour]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=22 July 2018|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1876 he was elected a member of the [[Aesculapian Club]] and was Honorary Secretary from 1887 to 1905.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Minute Books of the Aesculapian Club|url=http://archives.rcpe.ac.uk/calmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=DEP%2fAEC%2f1&pos=2|location= Library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh}}</ref>

The Dental Dispensary grew into the [[Edinburgh Dental Institute|Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School]] by 1879.

He was awarded an honorary doctorate (LLD) by the University of Edinburgh in 1884.<ref name="Waterston">{{cite book
 |last1=Waterston 
 |first1=Charles D 
 |last2=Macmillan Shearer 
 |first2=A 
 |title=Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783-2002: Biographical Index 
 |url=http://www.rse.org.uk/fellowship/fells_indexp2.pdf 
 |access-date=22 March 2011 
 |volume=II 
 |date=July 2006 
 |publisher=[[The Royal Society of Edinburgh]] 
 |location=Edinburgh 
 |isbn=978-0-902198-84-5 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004113303/http://www.rse.org.uk/fellowship/fells_indexp2.pdf 
 |archive-date= 4 October 2006 
}}</ref>

Smith was also a moderately successful [[playwright]]. He was a senior elder in St Andrews Parish Church in Edinburgh.

In his final years he lived at 11 Wemyss Place, a fine Georgian house on the [[Moray Estate]] in [[New Town, Edinburgh|Edinburgh's New Town]].<ref>Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1909-10</ref> The dental practice element (in the same property) was taken over by [[William Guy (dentist)|William Guy]] from around 1899.

He died on 15 April 1910. He is buried on the edge of the path which runs over the central vaults in [[Warriston Cemetery]].

==Family==
In 1853 he married Elizabeth Marjory Peters (1830–1912).

==Publications==
* ''Handbook of Dental Anatomy and Surgery'' (1864).

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, John}}
[[Category:1825 births]]
[[Category:1910 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish educators]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish philanthropists]]
[[Category:19th-century dentists]]
[[Category:Philanthropists from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:People educated at Stewart's Melville College]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scottish dentists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Health professionals from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scottish educators]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish medical doctors]]
[[Category:Scottish surgeons]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scottish dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Burials at Warriston Cemetery]]
[[Category:Office bearers of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Members of the Harveian Society of Edinburgh]]