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J. Denham-Smith F/M | ||||||||
| James William Gilbart-Smith [CFT #9540] Born: 1853 Died: 1927-Oct-3 |
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| b London d London Obituary. The Times, 4 October 1927. Sir James Denham, who died yesterday at a nursing home in Hove, was a man of varied tastes and interests. In the New Years honours list of 1921 he appeared among those who were to receive the honour of knighthood as "William" Denham with the brief description, "author and writer." The identity of the new knight remained for a time a mystery, which was made deeper by a correction in the London Gazette altering his Christian name to "Wilfred." Then a newspaper correspondent at Nice, where the new knight was living, reported that his name was really "Gilbert." In fact, he was the eldest surviving son of Mr. J. Denham-Smith, of Bellevue and Vesey Place, Ireland, and grandson of Mr.John Denham, of Danescourt, who married Sarah, niece and heiress of J.W.Gilbart, F.R.S., the writer on banking. It was as James William Gilbart-Smith that he matriculated at Oxford, as a non-collegiate student, at the age of 19, in April 1875. Soon afterwards he migrated to Christ Church, where his tutor was the Rev. C.L. Dodgson ("Lewis Carroll"). He took his degree in 1880 and also entered at the Inner Temple. He adopted by deed poll the name of Gilbart, but abandoned it later, and became known as James Denham. At Oxford, though at first firmly discouraged by his tutor, he began to write verse, and later issued several volumes. His songs included one entitled"Wake up England!" He also published various prose works chiefly historical and topographical. The best known of these was "Memoirs of the Memorable" (1922), a book of gossiping reminiscence and anecdote in which figure many distinguished people. In a well-known work of reference Sir James claimed to have raised considerable sums for charities by hid rendering of selections from the English classics; he also stated that his recreations were hunting, fishing, cycling and photography, and that he had bred and exhibited black spaniels, clumbers, and St. Bernards. Sir James married in 1901, Isabel Grace, daughter of Colonel Hector Stewart Vandeleur of Kilrush. He leaves two sons, the elder of whom is settled in Rhodesia, and the younger is in the Irish Guards, and a daughter. One of his descendants writes: Gilbart-Smith's life was 'colourful' - he went through the bankruptcy courts two or three times with failed publishing and other ventures; he was always short of money and I don't quite believe the 'charities mention in the obit. It was never clear why he was knighted - I have wondered whether it was, belatedly, for propoganda work during the First World War. He disappeared from view during the war, as did his great friend the 9th Lord Byron (he gives him a chapter in the book) and both, I believe, knew Charles Masterman who ran the Government's wartime propaganda bureau in London. Byron and Smith were both great writers, and Smith a skilled photographer. Both were patriotic and well-connected so I think they would have wished to put their skills to use for the good of the country. However, there is no proof or even suggestion of this - the only clue (and a pretty slight one at that!) is the mystery of the Denham knighthood. Gilbart-Smith's literary output often received terrible reviews although, a great self-publicist, he fancied the post of Port Laureate! But he was largely forgotten by 1921 so I don't think his earlier literary output would have warranted an honour. An interesting character! |
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