His military career began in 1787, when he studied at the Austrianacademy for artillery and engineers at Mechelen and Leuven in Belgium. Although his military service, which ended in 1820 and included the Napoleonic Wars, had him travel extensively (including the West Indies, Canada, and United States), much of his time was spent at a desk job in Britain. One of his noteworthy achievements was an 1800 experiment to determine which colour should be used for military uniforms. The increasing accuracy of firearms, especially rifles, brought advantages to shades which offer a less distinctive target – by testing the accuracy of a rifle company against grey, green, and red targets, he showed scientifically the advantages of grey (and to a lesser extent, green) uniforms over red ones common at the time, and recommended that grey be adopted for riflemen and light infantry. The British Army did not heed his advice, with green becoming the colour associated with light infantry. Initially commissioned into the 60th (Royal American) Regiment, ten years later Smith transferred to the 6th Foot.
Antiquary, naturalist, and illustrator
Thirteenth century costumes
Halmaturus Rutilans
As a prolific self-taughtillustrator, he is also known in military history circles for Costume of the Army of the British Empire, produced towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and an accurate depiction of contemporary British uniform. As an antiquarian, he also produced, in collaboration with Samuel Rush Meyrick, Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands, 1815, and The Ancient Costume of England, with historical illustrations of medievalknights, ladies, ships, and battles. The majority of his vast body of work (he estimated it was over 38,000 drawings) was not military in character, but largely passed into obscurity. Notebooks of his observations as a naturalist have survived, as well as antiquarian illustrations of civilian life. He also wrote on the history of the Seven Years' War and the natural history of dogs.[1] Smith was of Flemish origin; he wrote the military part of Cox's Marlborough and many military and natural history books.[2]
The Natural History of the Human Species
Smith published The Natural History of the Human Species in 1848. In this book, he maintained that three fundamentally distinct human types had always existed: the Caucasian, the Mongolian, and the Negro. Smith was nominally a monogenist, maintaining that the creation of humans was a single event, rather than multiple, but he was less convinced by the standard theories of the time coming from Count Buffon and Georges Cuvier on interfertility and species;[3] the book also referred to the polygenist views held by Samuel George Morton.[4]
Smith's book was reprinted in America, where Samuel Kneeland wrote an 84-page introduction to it. Kneeland laid out evidence that he maintained supported polygenist creationism, and argued that the Bible is compatible with multiple Adams.[5]
On retirement, Smith settled in Plymouth, joining the Plymouth Institution (now the Plymouth Athenaeum).[6] He delivered lectures and many of his 20 volumes of MSS notes, letters, and papers were deposited in the institution. His collection was destroyed when the Plymouth Athenaeum was bombed during the Blitz in 1941.[7]
^Damon Ieremia Salesa, Racial Crossings: Race, intermarriage, and the Victorian British Empire (2011), pp. 148–9; Google Books.
^Gustav Jahoda, Crossroads Between Culture and Mind: Continuities and Change in Theories of Human Nature, 1993, p. 93.
^David N. Livingstone, Adam's Ancestors: race, religion, and the politics of human origins (2008), pp. 97–99
^. Plymouth Athenaeum. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
^. Plymouth Athenaeum. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
May 19, 2023
charles, hamilton, smith, other, people, with, same, name, charles, smith, disambiguation, lieutenant, colonel, december, 1776, east, flanders, united, provinces, netherlands, september, 1859, plymouth, english, artist, naturalist, antiquary, illustrator, sold. For other people with the same name see Charles Smith disambiguation Lieutenant Colonel Charles Hamilton Smith KH KW FRS FLS 26 December 1776 in East Flanders in the United Provinces of the Netherlands 21 September 1859 in Plymouth was an English artist naturalist antiquary illustrator soldier and spy Privates of the Greek Light Infantry Regiment from Costumes of the Army of the British Empire Contents 1 Military service 2 Antiquary naturalist and illustrator 3 The Natural History of the Human Species 4 See also 5 ReferencesMilitary service EditHis military career began in 1787 when he studied at the Austrian academy for artillery and engineers at Mechelen and Leuven in Belgium Although his military service which ended in 1820 and included the Napoleonic Wars had him travel extensively including the West Indies Canada and United States much of his time was spent at a desk job in Britain One of his noteworthy achievements was an 1800 experiment to determine which colour should be used for military uniforms The increasing accuracy of firearms especially rifles brought advantages to shades which offer a less distinctive target by testing the accuracy of a rifle company against grey green and red targets he showed scientifically the advantages of grey and to a lesser extent green uniforms over red ones common at the time and recommended that grey be adopted for riflemen and light infantry The British Army did not heed his advice with green becoming the colour associated with light infantry Initially commissioned into the 60th Royal American Regiment ten years later Smith transferred to the 6th Foot Antiquary naturalist and illustrator Edit Thirteenth century costumes Halmaturus Rutilans As a prolific self taught illustrator he is also known in military history circles for Costume of the Army of the British Empire produced towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars and an accurate depiction of contemporary British uniform As an antiquarian he also produced in collaboration with Samuel Rush Meyrick Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands 1815 and The Ancient Costume of England with historical illustrations of medieval knights ladies ships and battles The majority of his vast body of work he estimated it was over 38 000 drawings was not military in character but largely passed into obscurity Notebooks of his observations as a naturalist have survived as well as antiquarian illustrations of civilian life He also wrote on the history of the Seven Years War and the natural history of dogs 1 Smith was of Flemish origin he wrote the military part of Cox s Marlborough and many military and natural history books 2 The Natural History of the Human Species EditSmith published The Natural History of the Human Species in 1848 In this book he maintained that three fundamentally distinct human types had always existed the Caucasian the Mongolian and the Negro Smith was nominally a monogenist maintaining that the creation of humans was a single event rather than multiple but he was less convinced by the standard theories of the time coming from Count Buffon and Georges Cuvier on interfertility and species 3 the book also referred to the polygenist views held by Samuel George Morton 4 Smith s book was reprinted in America where Samuel Kneeland wrote an 84 page introduction to it Kneeland laid out evidence that he maintained supported polygenist creationism and argued that the Bible is compatible with multiple Adams 5 On retirement Smith settled in Plymouth joining the Plymouth Institution now the Plymouth Athenaeum 6 He delivered lectures and many of his 20 volumes of MSS notes letters and papers were deposited in the institution His collection was destroyed when the Plymouth Athenaeum was bombed during the Blitz in 1941 7 See also EditCategory Taxa named by Charles Hamilton SmithReferences Edit Smith Charles Hamilton Dictionary of National Biography London Smith Elder amp Co 1885 1900 Charles Hamilton Smith Library of Congress Retrieved 19 August 2009 DNB Epitome Damon Ieremia Salesa Racial Crossings Race intermarriage and the Victorian British Empire 2011 pp 148 9 Google Books Gustav Jahoda Crossroads Between Culture and Mind Continuities and Change in Theories of Human Nature 1993 p 93 David N Livingstone Adam s Ancestors race religion and the politics of human origins 2008 pp 97 99 Historic People Plymouth Athenaeum Archived from the original on 6 November 2014 Retrieved 7 November 2014 Historic People Plymouth Athenaeum Archived from the original on 6 November 2014 Retrieved 7 November 2014 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Charles Hamilton Smith amp oldid 1121272386, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
