Tom Elder Barr Smith

Thomas Elder Barr Smith (8 December 1863 – 26 November 1941)[1] was a South Australian pastoralist and philanthropist.

Thomas Elder BARR SMITH
Born(1863-12-08)8 December 1863
Woodville, South Australia
Died26 November 1941(1941-11-26) (aged 77)
SpouseMary Isabel Mitchell
Parent(s)Robert Barr Smith and Joanna Lang Barr Smith, (née Elder)
RelativesMary Downer nee Gosse (granddaughter)

Tom Barr Smith was born in Woodville, South Australia, the son of Robert Barr Smith,[2] and his wife Joanna Lang, née Elder.[1]

On 5 May 1886 he married Mary Isabel Mitchell, at St Andrew's Church, Walkerville.

In 1917, Barr Smith subdivided his estate, which became the Adelaide suburb of Torrens Park.

In 1928 he gave £30,000 to the University of Adelaide to enable the building of the Barr Smith Library.[3]

His interests included competing in car rallies. A steam locomotive, now preserved in the National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide, was named after him in 1926.[4]

There is a plaque in his honour on the Jubilee 150 Walkway.

Family
  • Father: Robert Barr Smith (1824–1915)[5]
  • Mother: Joanna Elder - sister of Sir Thomas Elder
  • Uncles: Sir Thomas Elder (1818–1897),[6] William Elder (1813–1882), Alexander Lang Elder (1815–1885) and George Elder (1816–1897)
  • Daughter: Joanna Lang Barr Smith, Lady Gosse (1886–1965) married Sir James Hay Gosse (1876–1952)[7] on 29 April 1908, at St. Andrew's, Walkerville, South Australia.
  • Son: Sir Tom Elder Barr Smith (1904–1968)[8]

References
  1. Linn, R. W. "Smith, Tom Elder Barr (1863–1941)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  2. Serle, Percival (1949). "Barr Smith, Robert". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
  3. Burn, Margy (1982), The Barr Smith Library: its early days, University of Adelaide Library, hdl:2440/15901.
  4. No.504 "Tom Barr-Smith" Archived 19 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine, National Railway Museum - 500B-class 4-8-4 steam locomotive - retrieved 1 February 2009.
  5. van Dissel, Dirk (1976). 'Smith, Robert Barr (1824-1915)'. Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, Melbourne University Press, pp 153-154. Retrieved on 9 July 2009.
  6. Gosse, Fayette (1972) 'Elder, Sir Thomas (1818-1897)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, Melbourne University Press, pp 133-134. Retrieved on 9 July 2009.
  7. Gosse, Fayette (1996) 'Gosse, Sir James Hay (1876–1952)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 14, (MUP). Retrieved on 4 September 2011.
  8. Shanahan, Martin. (2002).'Smith, Sir Tom Elder Barr (1904-1968)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 16, Melbourne University Press, pp 274-275. Retrieved on 11 July 2009.


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