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RICHARD BAIRD SMITH (1818-1861)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 268 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RICHARD See also:BAIRD See also:SMITH (1818-1861)  , See also:British engineer officer, son of a surgeon in the royal See also:navy, was See also:born on the 31st of See also:December 1818 . He was educated at Lasswade and Addiscombe, and joined the See also:Madras See also:Engineers in 1838 . Being transferred to the See also:Bengal Engineers, he served through the second See also:Sikh .See also:war, and was See also:present at the battles of llatiiwal, See also:Aliwal and See also:Sobraon . He was then for some years employed on See also:canal See also:work, and when the See also:Mutiny See also:broke out was in See also:charge of See also:Roorkee . He promptly concentrated the Europeans in the workshops, and though the native sappers deserted, his forethought pre-vented any loss of See also:life . When See also:Delhi was invested he was appointed See also:chief engineer in charge of the See also:siege See also:works . He reached Delhi on the end of See also:July, and immediately advised See also:General See also:Barnard to See also:assault the See also:city . Barnard died while the See also:advice was still under See also:consideration, and his successor, General See also:Reed, could not be induced to follow it; and when Reed in turn was succeeded by Archdale See also:Wilson, the besiegers were so weakened by losses that the moment for a successful attack had passed . See also:Baird See also:Smith, however, prevented Wilson from relaxing his hold on Delhi until the arrival of See also:John See also:Nicholson with reinforcements from the See also:Punjab, and of the siege See also:train from Phillour . Nicholson then joined Baird Smith in compelling Wilson to make the assault, which proved successful, on the 14th of See also:September . Baird Smith was ably assisted by See also:Captain See also:Alexander See also:Taylor, but Nicholson was unjust to Baird Smith in assigning to Taylor the chief See also:credit for the siege operations . After the See also:capture of Delhi he returned to Roorkee and to See also:civil employment, and for a See also:time the value of his military services was insufficiently recognized .

After the Mutiny he was made A.D.C. to See also:

Queen See also:Victoria, became secretary to the See also:government of See also:India in the public works See also:department, and gained well-deserved credit in the See also:famine of 1861 . But the onerous See also:character of this work, following a See also:wound and illness at Delhi, broke down his constitution, and he died at See also:sea on the 13th of December 1861 . He married a daughter of De Quincey, who See also:long survived him . See See also:Colonel H . M . Vibart, See also:Richard Baird Smith (1897) .

End of Article: RICHARD BAIRD SMITH (1818-1861)
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Additional information and Comments

The article says "but Nicholson was unjust to Baird Smith in assigning to Taylor the chief credit for the siege of operations. After the capture of Delhi he* returned to Roorkee and to civil employment and for a time his military service was insufficiently recognized." John Nicholson had a bullet wound in his left lung on September 14th, 1857 and died of his wounds on 23rd September, 1857. I am objecting to the word UNJUST. John Nicholson was on his death bed. Submitted by Margaret MacKenzie *Baird Smith
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