Arthur Hale Smith Dorrien (257) plot

Location

Plot number (FHS)	257
Row	6
Section	177
Date

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Arthur Hale Smith Dorrien (257) plot

Plot number:
6,177
Family name:
Smith Dorrien
Burial date:

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Arthur Hale Smith Dorrien

23/05/1856 –05/06/1933

Royal Navy Rear Admiral who served in the Pacific, Zululand, and in the Egyptian War.

23/05/1856 –05/06/1933

Royal Navy Rear Admiral who served in the Pacific, Zululand, and in the Egyptian War.

Relatives

Mary Ann Smith-Dorrien — mother

Robert Algernon Smith-Dorrien — father

Horace Lockwood Smith Dorrien (261) — brother

Henry Theophilus Smith-Dorrien (258) — brother

Research:

Jenny Sherwood

Rear Admiral Arthur Hale Smith-Dorrien 1856-1933 was born at Haresfoot, the son of Col. Robert Algernon Smith-Dorrien and Mary Anne Drever. In 1870 he enlisted as a cadet in the Royal Navy on the Britannia. From 1872 he served as a midshipman in the Volage and the Sultan. He became a sub-lieutenant in December 1875 and served in the Shah flagship during the engagement with the Peruvian rebel ship Huascar. While still a sub-lieutenant he landed with the Naval Brigade in Zululand in May 1877 and is mentioned in despatches in 1879. He took part in operations of the Egyptian War of 1889-93. He was promoted to Captain in 1900, retired in 1904 and was promoted to Rear-Admiral on the retired list in 1909.

On retiring he returned to Berkhamsted and lived with his unmarried sister, Beatrice, at New Lodge. He was active in local affairs, arranged garden parties to raise money for charity, defended the reputation of his brother General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien and was an avid supporter of the British Legion. In June 1933 he was found dead by the railway line near his home apparently having been struck by a passing train, which he may not have heard because he had become quite deaf.

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Family name	Smith Dorrien
Burial date	Not known
Burial capacity	SPACE
Burial depth	Not known
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Burial visible (1991)?

The Souls of the righteous
are in the hand of God
In loving memory of
Arthur Hale Smith-Dorrien
Rear Admiral R.N.
Born May 23rd 1856, died June 5th 1933

The Smith, the Dorrien and the Smith-Dorrien families played a prominent role in Berkhamsted’s history for more than 150 years. They are linked with two adjoining estates – that of Haresfoot and that of Ashlyns Hall – which still stand today. Both families had their roots in banking. John Dorrien, whose son George was Governor of the Bank of England 1818-1819, purchased Haresfoot towards the end of the 18th century. In 1801, James Smith, a member of a well-known Nottinghamshire banking family, bought Ashlyns Hall.

The history of the two families became inextricably linked when Robert Algernon Smith, the younger brother of Augustus Smith of Ashlyns Hall and the Isles of Scilly, married the grand-daughter of John Dorrien, Mary Anne Drever. She bore him fifteen children. Robert changed his name to Smith-Dorrien. His eldest son, Thomas Algernon Smith-Dorrien was to become Lord Proprietor of the Scilly Isles at the death of Augustus Smith. Most of this very large family together with some of the Pechell family (Mary Anne Pechell was the second wife of James Smith) are commemorated by a very fine memorial in St Peter’s Church. Elsewhere, on the walls of the north transept, two tablets commemorate members of the Dorrien family.

In Rectory Lane Cemetery, five members of the Smith-Dorrien family are buried – among them military and naval men – whose names are known well beyond the town of Berkhamsted.