Tom Elder Barr Smith

Tom Elder Barr Smith
Born	8 December 1863 Woodville, South Australia
Died	26 November 1941 (aged 77)
Spouse(s)	Mary Isabel Mitchell
Parent(s)	Robert Barr Smith and Joanna Lang Barr Smith, (née Elder)

Thomas Elder Barr Smith (8 December 1863 – 26 November 1941)^[1] was a South Australian pastoralist and philanthropist,

Smith was born in Woodville, South Australia, the son of Robert Barr Smith,^[2] and his wife Joanna Lang, née Elder.^[1]

On 5 May 1886 he married Mary Isabel Mitchell, at St. Andrew's Church, Walkerville.

In 1917 Smith's estate was subdivided to form the Adelaide suburb of Torrens Park.

In 1928 he gave £30,000 to the University of Adelaide to enable the building of the Barr Smith Library.^[3]

His interests included competing in car rallies, and a steam locomotive was named after him in 1926.^[4]

There is a plaque in his honour on the Jubilee 150 Walkway.

Family

• Father: Robert Barr Smith (1824–1915)^[5]
• Mother: Joanna Elder - sister of Sir Thomas Elder
• Uncles: Sir Thomas Elder (1818–1897),^[6] William Elder (1813–1882), Alexander Lang Elder (1815–1885) and George Elder (1816–1897)
• Daughter: Joanna Lang Barr Smith, Lady Gosse (1886–1965) married Sir James Hay Gosse (1876–1952)^[7] on 29 April 1908, at St.Andrew's, Walkerville, South Australia.
• Son: Sir Tom Elder Barr Smith (1904–1968)^[8]

References

1. Linn, R. W. "Smith, Tom Elder Barr (1863–1941)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: Australian National University. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
2. Serle, Percival (1949). "Barr Smith, Robert". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
3. Burn, Margy (1982), The Barr Smith Library: its early days, University of Adelaide Library, hdl:2440/15901.
4. No.504 "TOM BARR-SMITH", National Railway Museum - 500B-class 4-8-4 steam locomotive - retrieved 1 Feb 2009.
5. van Dissel, Dirk (1976). 'Smith, Robert Barr (1824-1915)'. Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 6, Melbourne University Press, pp 153-154. Retrieved on 9 July 2009.
6. Gosse, Fayette (1972) 'Elder, Sir Thomas (1818-1897)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4, Melbourne University Press, pp 133-134. Retrieved on 9 July 2009.
7. Gosse, Fayette (1996) 'Gosse, Sir James Hay (1876–1952)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 14, (MUP). Retrieved on 4 September 2011.
8. Shanahan, Martin. (2002).'Smith, Sir Tom Elder Barr (1904-1968)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 16, Melbourne University Press, pp 274-275. Retrieved on 11 July 2009.