Miles Smith, Artist and Photographer of Bray Berkshire.

Monument to Miles Smith, All Saints' Maidenhead Cemetery, Maidenhead, Berkshire.

"He Rests In Peace

In Loving Memory of

Miles Smith

Who Died At Bray

January 11th 1889

Aged 83 Years"

Miles Smith was born on 23rd April 1807 to Charles Smith, and his wife Charlotte Barber, in Llansamlet, Glamorganshire, Wales. On 23rd July 1832 Miles married Francis (Fanny) Mansel Rees, at Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, Wales. On 4th August 1832 The Cambrian reported:

"Marriages- On the 28th ult. at Pembrey Church, Carmarthenshire, by the Rev. T. Evans, Miles Smith, Esq. of Gwernllwynwith, Glamorganshire, to Fanny Mansel, second daughter of Johu Rhys, Esq. of Killymaenllwyd, Carmarthenshire." 

In 1833 they celebrated the birth of their first child, a son, Miles Henry Smith. A daughter Laura Smith followed in 1835. A second son, Mansel Smith was born in 1835 followed by a third son Arundel Smith in 1838. A second daughter Charlotte Amelia Smith was born in 1839, followed by a third daughter Florence De Sangeant Smith in 1840.

Miles and Fanny appear on the 1841 Census living at 16 Somerset Place, Swansea Glamorgan, Wales. Miles occupation is given as an artist. Miles Henry Smith is living with his paternal grandmother Charlotte Smith. Siblings Laura, Mansel, Arundel, Charlotte, and one year old Florence are living with members of the Rees family.

In 1842 Miles and Fanny's final child, a son, Charles Raymond Smith was born. Sadly Fanny was to pass away that same year. However, there appears to be no death or burial record.

In 1843 Miles had a daughter Eliza Smith with Eliza Donovan from Ireland, although there appears to be no marriage record. They had a second child, a son, Albion Miles Smith in 1847, followed by another daughter Lydia Matilda Smith in 1849, and another daughter Adelaide Louisa Smith in 1850.

Miles appears on the 1851 Census living with Eliza as husband and wife, and their children, and domestic servant, Margaret Hurley, at 10 Trafalgar Terrance, Greenwich, London. Miles Henry Smith, now 18, is lodging at the Lodging House of Eleanor Phillips, at 138 Windmill Street, Gravesend, Kent. He is listed as still attending school. Mansel, now 14, and Arundel, now 12, are pupils at Mr Brownings Boarding School in Weston, Somerset. I am unable to locate the younger three children of Miles and Fanny on the 1851 Census.

In 1852 Miles final child with Eliza Donovan, Ada Helena Smith is born.

The 1861 Census fines Miles living without Eliza, at 3 Wellington Terrace, Greenwich, London, along with his children Miles Henry Smith, now a seaman, Eliza Smith, now a school teacher, Albion Miles Smith, Lydia Matilda Smith, Adelaide Louisa Smith, and Ada Helena Smith, school children.

Arundel Amith is serving as a clerk on the H.M.S. Imperieuse a naval gun ship docked in Hong Kong, China.

By 1871 Miles had moved to Bray, Berkshire, where he is living alone not far from the vicarage. Miles is still living in Bray on the 1881 Census

In 1880 there was an Industrial and Loan Exhibition held at the Working Men's Club in Norfolk Park, Maidenhead.  Miles exhibited four watercolour drawings, where he won a bronzed medal.  On 29th May 1880 the Reading Mercruy reported:

"There was a very fair number of water-colour drawings, Mr. Miles Smith showing four— The monarch of the glen," the well-known tree at Burnham Beeches, Ockwell's House, and Boyne Hill and Bray Churches."  

On the 17th of September 1888 there was a break-in and attempted break in at the property of Miles Smith, and the adjoining property of his housekeeper Hannah Littleton. On 17th October the Maidenhead Advertiser reported:

"Maidenhead County Bench. Tuesday, Oct. 9. 

Before T. J. Heavy, Esq., J. D. Kohler, Eq., General Thompson , and Lord George Pratt. 

ALLEGED HOUSEBREAKING AT BRAY. 

Charles Winston was brought up charged with having broken into the house of Hannah Littleton, at Bray, for the purpose of committing a felony. Hannah Littleton, living in Bray village, and unmarried, stated that she was housekeeper to Mr. Miles-Smith, who was 84 years of age, and whose house adjoined hers, and that on the 17th Sept., at about a quarter to 4 o'clock in the afternoon, she was outside her back door, the front door being fastened with a bar at the bottom. She heard her door "smash open," and on going into the house saw the defendant standing there with his back to the fire. She asked him what his business was there, and he replied that he had been working there two years ago. She asked him to leave the place, and he said he would not go, and that no one would put him out. He declared that he would have something before he went out, and thinking she was in danger she went towards the door to get away from him. The defendant went all round the inside of the house, and said something, but she was so frightened that she did not know what it was he said. He did not take anything, as she was too quick for him. When she opened the front door (which the accused had shut after him), Winston went out. Her door was broken, and the bar was thrown into the middle of the room. She bolted the door after him, and he came up and tried to get in again, and swore at her and said that he would get in, if he broke the window. But she saw no more of him. 

Asked if the defendant was drunk, the witness said:. I don't know; he looked like a madman." 

Eliza Lawrence, a widow, living at Bray. stated that on the 13th Sept. she saw the defendant at Mr. Smith's door, at about a quarter to 4 o'clock. The door was ajar, and the defendant appeared to be looking round the post. He then left the door and went towards Miss Littleton's house, and hearing the last-named call out she opened her window, but the defendant appeared to be in the porch, and she could not see him. She believed the defendant was sober; he was as he appeared now. 

Constable Gould stated that on going to the house he found the bottom of the door shattered. Considerable force must have been used, he said. to break in the door. He made enquiries, and found that the defendant was already in the custody of the borough police on another charge. Having been cautioned in the usual way, Winston said he accumulated a little money and drank a great deal for several days. He parted with his tools and clothing, and did not know what he was about. He had no food, and had walked about two or three nights, and was "in a perfect state of insanity." He had begged of a policeman at Maidenhead, and been 21 days in gaol, and he had no recollection whatever of the offence with which he was now charged. He added that the chaplain at Reading gaol had promised to get him into a Home until he could obtain permanent employment. Winston was committed to take his trial at the Quarter Sessions."

Less than four months later Miles Smith was to pass away on 11th January 1889