MS 2656 Papers of Pierce Galliard Smith (1826-1908)
- Date Range: 1846-1907 approximately.
- Quantity: 3.04 metres
- Access: Available for reference.
The collection consists of letters with family and friends, and business
correspondence; notes for sermons written by Rev. Galliard Smith; several
bibles and prayer books and diaries of Rev. Galliard Smith. See also
MS 7989 for papers of the De Salis family.
Biographical Note
(Taken from a paper by Patience Wardle)
Pierce Galliard Smith came to Canberra as the third Rector of St John
the Baptist Church in 1855 at the age of 29. He had been educated at Durham
University College, England and was ordained in 1851. He took his M.A. the
following year. He married Emily Davies of Llangynidr, Wales in 1851. During
this period he was curate at Meldon and from 1852 until he first left for
Australia was chaplain at Featherstone Castle, Haltwhistle, Northumberland.
Their first two children Emily and Pierce were born during those years.
Frederick Barker, Pierce Galliard Smith's cousin, was appointed Bishop of
Sydney in August 1854. He offered a post in New South Wales to Pierce Galliard
Smith in the church built by Charles Campbell's father at Canbury. After an
86-day voyage upon the 'Mermaid' with Bishop Barker and Mrs Barker the Smiths
took up residence in Canberra. Reverend Smith served the parish for 51 years
and died at Queanbeyan in 1908, at the age of 82.
Descendants: In 1857 their third child Mary was born and later a
son William Bradshaw. Mary married George Fane De Salis (1852-1932) and lived
at Cuppacumbalong. Pierce, the eldest son, owned a station in Queensland called
Savannah on the Flinders River and later moved to the Northern Territory and
bought a property on the eastern boundary of Elsey Station. He was well known
in the Territory as Savannah Smith. William went to Queensland to work for his
brother. Later he was killed in the Boer War of South Africa. Mary Smith was
well known in the Canberra district for her sympathy and care for the ill for
over fifty years. They had six children named Mary, Pierce, Emily, Gertrude,
Paulus and Bradshaw William.
BOXES 1-2
Theological papers and sermons, 1846, 1850-1854
BOXES 2-3
Business correspondence and accounts 1876-1906
BOX 4
Accounts and receipts 1855-1893
Personal budget account book 1878-1880
Recipe Book 1853-1867
Poems and miscellaneous items
BOXES 5-6
Correspondence concerning marriage settlement,
mostly from Annan, Scotland 1887-1903
Business correspondence
BOX 7
Correspondence with Bishop Barker, 1854-1855, 1864-1891
Correspondence with Bishop Chalmers, 1984
Correspondence re Bishop Barker's visit to Goulburn 1855
Letters from other clergy, 1861-1898
Correspondence re church business, 1873-1903
St Saviours Cathedral controversy, 1887
Correspondence with Bishop Barlow, 1902-1907
BOXES 8-9
Family correspondence, 1857-1906. Includes letters from William, Pierce
and Paulus Smith
Printed materials about the church
BOX 10
Letters from the following:
Frederick Campbell, 1881-1905
Charles Campbell, 1881-1888
George Campbell, 1855-1881
Augustus Gibbs, 1879-1905
A. Cunningham, 1859-1905
Grace Family, 1859-1879
De Salis Family
Solicitors, 1890
BOX 11
Publications - newspapers: Queanbeyan Age 1882, The Times 1863-1878,
The Echo 1882, The Dumfries and Galloway Courier 1879-1882
Papers delivered by Patience Wardle about Rev. Galliard Smith.
Obituary for Mrs Pierce Galliard Smith
Two photographs of Reverend Smith and one of the interior of St John's
BOXES 12-14
Letters to Emily Smith (could include some letters to Gertrude and Mary
which were addressed to 'Miss Smith')
BOX 15
Diaries of Rev. Smith; some with account records: 1853, 1869, 1870, 1872,
1874, 1878, 1881, 1883-1884, 1886 (contains 1881-1882 accounts), 1887,
1900, 1901
BOX 16
Diaries: 1857-1858, 1883, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1902, 1904, 1905
BOX 17
Diaries: 1888, 1889, 1885, 1890
BOX 18
Diaries: 1891, 1892, 1893, 1895
BOX 19
Baptismal Font used to baptise on outlying areas of parish.
Prayer books and bibles
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