Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted

Robert Algernon Smith-Dorrien was born Robert Algernon Smith, the son of James Smith and Mary Isabella Pechell. James Smith was a member of the Nottinghamshire banking family who resided at Ashlyns Hall in Berkhamsted.

Robert married Mary Anne Drever in 1845, marrying into another banking family, the Dorriens of Haresfoot (George Dorrien was Governor of the Bank of England 1818-1819). In 1845 he legally changed his name to Robert Algernon Smith-Dorrien by Royal Licence, adopting his wife’s maiden name and continuing the Dorrien family name. Mary and Robert at Haresfoot, and had fifteen children:

• Thomas Algernon Smith-Dorrien-Smith b. 7 Feb 1846, d. 6 Aug 1918
• Frances Ann Isabella Smith-Dorrien b. 29 Mar 1847, d. 20 Oct 1910
• Frederick Smith-Dorrien b. c 1848
• Marian Smith-Dorrien b. c 1849, d. 30 Nov 1944
• Henry Theophilus Smith-Dorrien b. 8 May 1850
• Walter Montgomery Smith-Dorrien b. 13 Jun 1851, d. 17 Dec 1924
• Amy Smith-Dorrien b. 22 Aug 1852, d. 4 Sep 1945
• Edith Smith-Dorrien b. 30 Dec 1853
• Alma Paulina Smith-Dorrien b. c 1855, d. 19 Feb 1941
• Rear-Admiral Arthur Hale Smith-Dorrien b. 23 May 1856, d. 5 Jun 1933
• General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien b. 26 May 1858, d. 12 Aug 1939
• Mary Beatrice Smith-Dorrien b. c 1859, d. 5 Jan 1940
• Maud Charlotte Smith-Dorrien b. 10 Sep 1860, d. 9 Mar 1937
• Louisa Mildred Smith-Dorrien b. c 1862
• Dora Helen Smith-Dorrien b. c 1863, d. 24 Feb 1947

The Smith, the Dorrien and the Smith-Dorrien families played a prominent role in Berkhamsted’s history for more than 150 years. Robert’s better-known brother was Augustus Smith MP, who is remembered for his involvement in the “Battle of Berkhamsted Common” of 1866, and who served as Lord Proprietor of the Isles of Scilly for over thirty years. After Augustus’s death in 1872, Mary and Robert’s eldest son, Thomas Algernon Smith-Dorrien succeeded him as Lord Proprietor.

Robert held the office of Justice of the Peace (JP).  He served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Herts Militia and held the rank of Captain in the 3rd Light Dragoons and 16th Lancers.

He also served as Churchwarden at St Peter’s Church from 1868, and was a key figure in a project to restore the neglected parish church. In 1852 he commissioned the reglazing of the large north window in the north transept as a memorial to members of the Dorrien family, and this window still bears memorial inscriptions.

In the 1868-72 the first phase of restoration work began. Robert died in office 1879, and was succeeded as Churchwarden by his son Thomas. A stained-glass window by Thomas Eamer Kempe in the south aisle of St Peter’s Church was installed in Robert’s memory, and a plaque underneath reads:

“Giving thanks to God for the honoured memory of Robert Algernon Smith-Dorrien, late Lieut. Colonel of the Herts Militia & for the zeal shown by him as Churchwarden in the restoration of this Church, his friends and neighbours have rebuilt this Aisle and dedicated this window. MDCCCLXXX”

Robert’s influence and charm was fondly remembered, as was his devotion to the restoration of the church building:

During the restoration of the church, the worthy Colonel was often there morning, noon, afternoon, and night and did far more than they could expect a clerk of the works to attend to.  Colonel Dorrien had a knack of getting the ladies on his side, and that was a great thing.  He was … the most popular man in the parish, and if they should have to elect a member of Parliament for that town, Colonel Dorrien would be that man.

Bucks Herald, Apr 1873
with thanks to Berkhamsted Local History and Museum Society

The restoration of St Peter’s continued after Robert’s death, and in 1870, the final phase of the work was undertaken by the renowned Gothic Revival architect William Butterfield.

Sources: The Peerage