R. Murdoch Smith

Kilmarnock, 1835 - 1900, Edinburgh

BiographyLC name authority rec. nr 97040765
LC heading: Smith, R. Murdoch (Robert Murdoch), Sir, 1835-1900
Biography:
Smith, Sir Robert Murdoch (1835–1900), archaeologist and diplomatist, second son of Hugh Smith (d. 1856), surgeon and medical practitioner at Kilmarnock, and his wife, Jean, née Murdoch, was born at Bank Street, Kilmarnock, on 18 August 1835. He was educated at Kilmarnock Academy and at Glasgow University (where he was a pupil of Lord Kelvin), and in September 1855 he was one of the first to obtain by open competition a commission in the Royal Engineers. In 1856–9 he commanded the party of sappers which accompanied the archaeological expedition under Charles Thomas Newton to Asia Minor, the principal results of which were the discovery of the mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the acquisition—under a firman of the Porte—for the British Museum of the magnificent sculptures from that monument. It was Smith who discovered the real site of the mausoleum. He described the excavations in his Discoveries at Halicarnassus, Cnidus, and Branchidae (1862).

In November 1860, with Lieutenant E. A. Porcher, Smith started on another adventurous expedition, at his own expense but under government sanction, to explore the ancient cities of the Cyrenaica in north Africa. For a year the two officers excavated at and about Cyrene, and returned with many valuable Greek sculptures and inscriptions, which they placed at the disposal of the government and which were housed in the British Museum. Smith described the expedition in History of the Recent Discoveries at Cyrene (1864), illustrated from drawings by Porcher.

After a period of fortification duties in the War Office Smith was selected in August 1863 for special service on the Persian section of the proposed telegraph line from England to India. Permission to construct the line through Persia had been obtained only after much difficulty and delay, and the officers had to contend not only with great physical difficulties but with Persian hostility and distrust from the shah downwards. All these difficulties, however, were overcome, and the line was successfully completed. Smith acted first as superintendent of the Tehran–Kohrud section. In 1865 he succeeded Major John Bateman Champain as director of the Persian telegraph at Tehran. He filled this post with notable ability and success for twenty years: the working of the line reached a high standard of efficiency, and he was successful in conciliating local feeling. An excellent Persian scholar, he won the esteem and trust of the Persian ministers and princes with whom he dealt, including the shah, Nasir al-Din, who in 1885 presented him with a sword of honour. In 1869 Smith married Eleanor, eldest daughter of Captain John Robinet Baker RN (she died in Persia in 1883). Of their nine children, seven died in Persia—three on three consecutive days at Kashan.

When in Persia Smith developed a real understanding of Persian culture, and devoted much time and attention to collecting Persian art objects for the South Kensington (later Victoria and Albert) Museum. His skill in selecting material and negotiating acquisition was highly regarded. In May 1885 he became director of the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, and returned to Britain; he continued director until his death. In 1887 he became director-in-chief of the Indo-European telegraph department on the death of Sir John Champain. In the same year he was sent on a special mission to Persia to resolve the differences with the Persian government over the occupation of Jask by British-Indian troops. This question was settled to the satisfaction of both governments. Other questions were also discussed, and Smith succeeded in obtaining a prolongation to 1905 of the two existing telegraph conventions, which would otherwise have expired in 1888 and 1895 respectively. On leaving Tehran he was presented by the shah with a diamond snuff-box, and on his return to England he was made KCMG (10 January 1888) in recognition of his services in Persia.

Shortly afterwards the office to which Smith had been appointed in 1887 was, on his own recommendation, abolished as unnecessary. He had retired from the army in December 1887 with the rank of major-general. Henceforward his work lay in the Edinburgh Museum. It was greatly enlarged, the administration improved, and many valuable objects, especially in the department of eastern art, were acquired. He was largely responsible for a gradual redefinition of the term ‘art’ as applied to museum collections. The Edinburgh Museum already had a substantial collection of decorative arts material, but it was perceived and represented largely in terms of industrial art, although there were examples from ancient civilizations and non-European areas. Under Smith's direction collecting in these fields became more deliberate, and this in turn attracted loans and donations. The museum benefited from Scottish enterprise in distant places, and Smith himself brought back collections of Persian art. Smith was a member of the board of trustees for manufactures in Scotland and chairman of the committee of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Among Smith's minor writings were his treatise on Persian art, issued by the Department of Science and Art in 1876, a paper entitled ‘The strategy of Russia in central Asia’ (Journal of the United Service Institution, 17, 1874, 212–22), and a lecture to the Society of Arts, ‘The Karun river as a trade route’ (Journal of the Society of Arts, 37, 1888–9, 561–7), for which he was awarded the society's silver medal. In February 1899 he was awarded the freedom of Kilmarnock. Smith died at his home, 50 Moray Place, Edinburgh, on 3 July 1900, and was buried in the Dean cemetery, Edinburgh. He was survived by two daughters.

George Stronach, rev. Roger T. Stearn
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Last Updated8/7/24

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