Robert Barr Smith

Male 1824 - 1915  (91 years)


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  • Name Robert Barr Smith 
    Born 4 Feb 1824  Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 20 Nov 1915  Adelaide, South Australia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • The original Barr Smith Library
      The Barr Smith Library owes its name to the Barr Smith family, a pioneer family in South Australia and benefactors to the University of Adelaide over many decades. In 1899 the University Council resolved that its library should bear the name 'The Barr Smith Library', and the foundation stone of the present Barr Smith Library was laid by Mary Isobel Barr Smith on 29 September 1930.
      The Reverend Dr Robert Smith of Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland, married Marjorie Barr of Lochside, Scotland, in 1820. Their first son, Robert Barr Smith, graduated from Glasgow University in 1842 at the age of 18, and embarked on a business career as a commission and supply merchant to the colonies of Australia. In 1854 he moved to Melbourne, and two years later to Adelaide, just twenty years after the proclamation of the Colony of South Australia. In that same year, 1856, Robert married Joanna Lang Elder, sister of his business partner, Thomas Elder. Through the family company Elder Smith & Co, Robert's interests quickly grew and diversified to include farming, pastoralism, trading, and copper mining. The Company opened large areas of outback South Australia, and had property interests in South Australia, Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales. By 1890 the partners owned an area greater than Robert's country of origin, Scotland.
      Although the Barr Smiths and the Elders accumulated great wealth, they were also noted philanthropists, closely interested in the social and cultural development of the Colony. The University of Adelaide was founded in 1874, and Robert Barr Smith served as a member of its Council for 19 years, and during his lifetime his donations to the University exceeded £20,000, including £9,000 for the improvement of the Library. Other gifts were towards the building of the spires on St Peter's Cathedral, the establishment of a diocese at Willochra, the Trades Hall in Adelaide, the Mt Kosciuso observatory, and the Art Gallery of South Australia. Following the death of Robert Barr Smith in 1915, his family gave a permanent endowment to the University of Adelaide Library, and in 1927 Robert's one surviving son, Tom Elder Barr Smith, offered £20,000 for the construction of a separate library building to be dedicated in the name of his father. Eventually more than £30,000 was given for the building, which was officially opened on 4 March 1932.
      The Library is the architectural work of Walter Hervey Bagot, a prominent architect whose portfolio includes St Peter's and St Francis Xavier's Cathedrals, Bonython Hall, and the State War Memorial. Construction is in red brick with stone dressings, and the freestone portico leading directly into the massive and opulent Reading Room . Two friezes commemorate the donations of the Barr Smith family. Notwithstanding its grandeur, at the time of its opening a local newspaper lamented the Library's position: "far from the madding crowd, ... for its beautiful architecture, of which there is little superior in Adelaide, will not be readily seen by the general public or interstate or overseas visitors. It would have made a fine addition to the several classically designed buildings on the North Terrace boulevard". In fact, the view to the Barr Smith Library from Frome Road is one of Adelaide's finest vistas, a view enhanced by the removal of a central bookcase and the installation of glass doors in 2001.
      The Reading Room was planned to hold 15,000 volumes and give seats for 200 readers. A ground-level bookstack gave capacity for 135,000 volumes, and a proposed stack extension was projected to bring total accommodation to 500,000 volumes, quoted at the opening ceremony by the mathematician, Professor John Wilton as "ample for one hundred years to come". In fact the Library grew much faster, both in area and in its collections: it took just 37 years to reach 500,000 volumes, a further twenty years to reach one million volumes, with two million volumes exceeded in 1999.
      Later additions to the Library building were made in all decades from the 1950s, the large southern wing completed in the early 1970s, and the present entrance in 1984. The usable floor area of the Barr Smith Library is 14,600 square metres, and of all the libraries 20,809 square metres. As library collections continue to grow, growth of the Library on the North Terrace campus is now alleviated by the transfer of lesser-used volumes to the Universities' Research Repository on the campus of Flinders University.
      last modified 08/08/2006 13:12 by Mr Stephen Thomas
    Person ID I114  Simpson & Elder
    Last Modified 2 Jan 2010 

    Father Reverand Dr. Robert Smith., Of Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire 
    Mother Marjorie Barr., Of Lochside, Scotland 
    Married 1820 
    Family ID F51  Group Sheet

    Family Joanna Lang Elder,   b. 11 Oct 1835,   d. 23 Oct 1919, Adelaide, South Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 84 years) 
    Marriage 15th April 1856 
    • On the 15th inst., at the residence of Wm. M. Bell, Esq., South Yarra, Melbourne, by the Rev. Dr. Cairns, Robert Barr Smith, Esq., merchant, Adelaide, to Joanna Lang, youngest daughter of George Elder, Esq., Kirkaldy, Scotland
    Married 15 Apr 1856  Residence of Wm Bell Esq, South Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria. Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Robert Bruce Smith,   b. 25 Jun 1857, Glen Osmond, Sa. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 14 Apr 1864, Woodville, Sa. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 6 years)
     2. George Elder Smith,   b. 10 Oct 1858, Glen Osmond, Sa. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1 Jan 1914, Somerton, Adelaide, South Australia. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 55 years)
     3. Neil Montgomerie Smith,   b. 18 May 1860, Oaklands, South Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1860, Oaklands, South Australia Find all individuals with events at this location
     4. Mabel Fairfax Smith,   b. 13 Dec 1861, Woodville, Sa. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     5. Tom Elder Barr Smith,   b. 8 Dec 1863, Woodville, Sa. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 Nov 1941  (Age 77 years)
     6. Jane Balfour St Clare Smith,   b. 20 Dec 1864, Woodville, Sa. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     7. Joanna Fitzgerald Smith,   b. 3 Feb 1866, Woodville, Sa. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     8. Marjory Erlistoun Smith,   b. 11 Jan 1868, Woodville, Sa. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     9. Hugh Raymond Smith,   b. 8 Sep 1870, Glen Osmond, Sa. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 14 Nov 1871, Briers Near North Adelaide. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 1 years)
     10. Ida Thekla Smith,   b. 8 Oct 1871, Briars Walkerville, Sa Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 Nov 1875, Torrens Park, Mitcham, Sa. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 4 years)
     11. Robert Barr Smith,   b. 27 Nov 1872, Adelaide, South Australia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
     12. Ursula Halcomb Smith,   b. 8 Apr 1876, Torrens Park, Mitcham, Sa. Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 13 Nov 1878, Mitcham, Adelaide, South Australia. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 2 years)
     13. Dorothea Barr Smith,   b. 1879,   d. 27 Mar 1881, Mitcham, Adelaide, South Australia. Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 2 years)
    Last Modified 2 Jan 2010 
    Family ID F30  Group Sheet


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