Smith was born in Saltcoats, on the Ayrshire coast, and with his elder brother Robert founded the City Line of steam and sailing ships. Smith's father, also George, owned fishing and trading vessels. The family moved to Belfast in 1810 but the death of Smith's mother prompted a return.
Smith entered business manufacturing cotton goods before the brothers linked up as warehousemen. In 1840 the firm bought a barque, the Constellation, to use on the Glasgow to Calcutta run. This led to the purchase of two other barques and the commissioning of new ships. The vessels carried the prefix "City", and by 1868 the fleet comprised 35 sailing vessels. The change to steamers saw the dominance of the trade routes was maintained.
Smith was much affected by the death of his brother in 1873, and on his own death the firm was taken over by his son, another George.
GEORGE SMITH was born in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, in the year 1803. His only brother Robert, who was two years his senior, and who along with him founded the City Line of Calcutta steam and sailing ships, was also born in the same town. Their father, George Smith, senior, was a native of the contiguous village of Stevenston, where he was born in the year 1777. Like most of the townsmen, the father was in his early years a weaver, but with this, "his trade," he combined the more lucrative business of a small shipowner, having shares at an early period in quite a number of the sailing craft which hailed from Saltcoats; vessels engaged in fishing, and others of a more pretentious class capable of trading to the Mediterranean ports.
Possessed in no ordinary degree of that spirit of enterprise, combined with shrewd business capacity, for which many of the men of the district were remarkable, George Smith, senior, removed with his family about the year 1810 to Belfast, where he established himself as a textile manufacturer, encouraged thereto by the bounties which the Government of the day granted to such trades for the promotion of manufacturing industries in Ireland. Mr. Smith was followed to Ireland by others from the district, both relatives and neighbours, led thither by the same trade inducements. These early immigrants from Ayrshire prospered greatly, and are now represented by numerous families engaged in various branches of commerce and manufactures in the North of Ireland.
Mr. Smith, although most successful in his Belfast business, did not long continue in it. The death of his wife, which occurred some few years after their settlement in Belfast, threw him into deep dejection, and he returned with his son George, who was still young, to his native town, leaving his Irish business to a friend, whom he had taken into partnership. Having acquired considerable means Mr. Smith had no need to re-enter business, and although he was comparatively young, and, at a later period, became the nominal head of the firm of which still his two sons were the working partners, he never again engaged in active business.
George completed his education at Saltcoats. From his earliest years he displayed an energy and untiring activity which remained with him and characterized all his after-life. As a boy his model boats were the fastest among those of his compeers, just as in later years his sailing ships became. Upon the completion of his education he was, as was then customary, instructed in the art of weaving, and at the same time in the business of his grandfather, a weaver's agent, he became familiar with yarns and manufactured goods. His self-reliance and business aptitude were early developed. At the age of eighteen he began business for himself in Glasgow, under the firm of Smith & Craig, as a manufacturer of cotton goods. His partner, Mr. Craig, died soon after the business was started, and Mr. Smith was left alone in it. The goods dealt in by the firm were made by jobbing weavers, Mr. Smith taking charge of their manufacture and of their sale among drapers.
Meanwhile Robert, his elder brother, who had completed his draper's apprenticeship in Belfast, came to Glasgow and joined his friend Peter Cumming in the business of warehousemen under the firm of Cumming & Smith. Mr. Cumming retiring soon from the partnership to carry on a separate business of his own, the opportunity arose of conjoining the businesses of the two brothers, and the father, George Smith, senior, joined his two sons in the partnership of George Smith & Sons, under which they long carried on in London Street and Argyle Street, Glasgow, the business of wholesale and retail warehousemen. The elder Smith continued to hold and to extend his interest in sailing vessels, and also in coasting and channel steamers, taking, however, no part in their management.
This taste for shipping was strongly developed, not only in the father but also in the sons, more especially in George, but it was not suffered to interfere with the vigorous prosecution of their soft goods business. George for some years journeyed through Scotland, as buyer and seller for the firm, and it was related of him, as illustrative of his energy, that it was his practice after completing his business calls in a place, to mount his gig in the evening and proceed to the town next in turn, borrowing often from his sleeping hours the travelling time, that he might be ready to see his customers in the morning.
Foreseeing the vast trade that was destined to arise between India and Great Britain, the firm in 1840 acquired a colonial-built barque, the "Constellation," and placed her on the berth at Glasgow for Calcutta, under the charge of a loading broker. The success of this venture led to the acquirement of other vessels. The first of these was a barque of 346 tons, and the second a ship of 502 tons, both British built, and classed at Lloyd's for ten years. Dissatisfied with ready-made ships, the firm resolved that any further additions to their fleet should be of vessels built to their own specification, and of the highest class at Lloyd's, and this resolution was steadily adhered to, with the result that a superior type of ship was built, and the vessels of the firm speedily acquired fame for their speed, safety, and regularity in the Calcutta trade.
The adoption of the prefix "City" to the names of all their vessels had an interesting origin. In 1847 a vessel was contracted for with a firm whose building yard at Kelvinhaugh was outside of the municipal boundary. While the vessel was still upon the stocks the boundary of the municipality was extended westward to the Kelvin, and thus came to include the Kelvinhaugh building yard. Robert Smith being then a city magistrate, and the ship being the first vessel launched in the extended royalty, the brothers thought it would be a graceful act to associate with their ship the name of the city. She was launched in 1848, and as she left the ways received the name of the "City of Glasgow." The succeeding vessels of their fleet were named after other cities, and came to be known as "The City Line." From 1848 onwards new vessels were built of tonnages gradually increasing until after the introduction of iron as a shipbuilding material in 1856 they attained the proportions of the larger type of modern iron ships.
In the earlier years of the Calcutta trade the loading of the ships was entrusted to a shipbroker of eminence in the city, whose management was successful, but in the eyes of the owners it had one serious defect - the vessels were not despatched upon fixed dates. It was the practice to place them on the berth and wait the progress of loading before fixing the day of departure, and the date even when named was often not adhered to. The Smiths could not stand this; it conflicted with their notions of business exactitude, and they remonstrated with their broker, urging him to adopt and adhere to fixed dates for the despatch of the ships. This he declined to do, declaring that he knew what was best, and intimating that if they objected they could withdraw their ships and he would find others to fill the berth.
Such a course taken towards a man of Mr. Smith's calibre could have but one result - they withdrew their ships from his charge and assumed the management of their loading. Having at the time too few to form a monthly line they contracted for additional vessels, and pending the building of these they conjoined their service with that of another firm holding like views to theirs. With the combined fleet a regular monthly sailing was established, the vessels being appointed to sail on fixed dates, "full or not full." The opposition which at the outset they had to encounter was speedily overcome, and ere long the City Line had a monopoly of the trade, gained, as Mr. Smith used to say, by providing a high class of ship sailed with strict punctuality and with moderate freights. It was a maxim with the Smiths that their scale of charges should be so arranged that their friends could not go past them to do better. In 1868 the firm possessed thirty-five sailing vessels of the highest class.
So satisfactory had their service proved to the Calcutta traders that a representation was made by several of them to the Smiths to establish a service to Bombay. This they acceded to, and in 1863 a monthly line was started, the service to Calcutta being also materially increased.
Now that steam has displaced sailing ships in this great trade, and the work which was accomplished by sailing ships will soon pass into oblivion, it may be well to record some of the feats of these early sailing ships and the service they performed. In 1871 the Smiths despatched to Calcutta, via the Cape of Good Hope, twenty-four sailing ships - the shortest passage out was made in seventy-nine days, homewards in ninety-three days. The shortest round voyage, pilot to pilot, in six months and nine days. To Bombay they despatched sixteen ships; the shortest passage out was made in eighty-three days, homewards in ninety-five days; the shortest round voyage in seven months and eighteen days. Mr. Smith attached much importance to speed upon the voyages of the ships, and no captain was long tolerated in the service who failed in this particular.
The completion of the Suez Canal transformed the shipping trade with India; the merchandise of Great Britain and the finer produce of India could no longer stand the delays of a sailing voyage round the Cape. During the formation of the canal grave doubts were often expressed that it should ever become the highway of merchant fleets, but to the mind of George Smith the future of the route and its full effect upon the lines of sailing ships presented no difficulty. He foresaw that the business which his firm had so assiduously cultivated would pass out of their hands unless they maintained it by a fleet of steamers. The two brothers were now well advanced in life - they had no practical acquaintance with steam, and to enter upon what in fact was a new and great undertaking required no common courage. For a time they wavered in their resolution, but the indomitable determination of George prevailed. In September, 1868, they made their last contract for a sailing ship; in 1871 they began the transformation of their sailing service by contracting at once for four steamers. Soon after they ordered four more of improved power and style. The passages which by sailing ships occupied seventy-nine days at the shortest, were now easily accomplished in thirty-one to thirty-three days, and the business so long conducted by means of their unrivalled fleet of sailing ships, was quietly and at once transferred to steamers.
During the transition period stray steamers variously owned competed for the trade so obviously destined to chance hands; but the advent of new well-appointed steam-ships carrying the City Line flag speedily displaced them, and the old monopoly of the Glasgow trade and a large share of that of Liverpool was practically re-established.
It was a rule of the firm, to which George gave special emphasis, that the "tools" they used should always be of the best and most modern type. Thus as their ships got small by comparison with new ones, or otherwise came to be behind the age, they were disposed of and replaced by better. This rule has since been put in force as regards their steam fleet. Their first four steamers, built before the owners had practical acquaintance with steam, proving unsatisfactory in their propelling power, were sold, and larger and more powerful steamers substituted.
For economy of working, carrying power, and speed suited to the trade in which they are employed, the steamers of the City Line are regarded as holding a foremost place amongst the steam-ship lines of the kingdom. Their safety is proverbial, and the well-known preference they command both in goods and passengers is deserved.
Robert Smith did not long survive change in their service. A lingering illness withdrew him from active duty for some months before his death, which took place in 1873.
The decease of his brother had a marked effect upon George. He lost much of the buoyancy of spirit for which he was remarkable, and at times spoke of the sadness of being "left alone" as he was. By those who knew the deep affection that knit the two brothers in their lives the full significance of this utterance could alone be understood.
In outward appearance, as well as in their general cast of mind and high moral tone, the two brothers resembled one another, but in some respects the one was the complement rather than the counterpart of the other. While possessing much of his brother's force of character, Robert was specially distinguished by a calmness and dignity of demeanour and a kindliness of disposition that nothing could disturb. His amiability and benevolence attracted all who had the happiness of his acquaintance. George, on the other hand, was brusque in manner, of sharp, quick and withal powerful intellect, which obscured or rendered less apparent his natural kindliness of disposition. He had immense capacity for work, and in his business performed the duties which elsewhere usually engage the services of several clerks.
Beyond taking part in some of the public trusts which had a bearing upon his business, and in the work of the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Smith did not engage himself in public affairs.
His well-known business acumen, his thoroughness in everything to which he put his hand, and his unbending rectitude, led to his being chosen to take part in the investigation of the affairs of the Caledonian Railway Company in that important crisis of its history when the integrity of its directorate was distrusted by the shareholders. The investigation resulted favourably for the directors, and established confidence in the soundness of their undertaking. Mr. Smith evinced his own confidence in the company by becoming a large shareholder in its ordinary stock, which he continued to be as long as he lived. In politics he was a Liberal, but he was no party man, and preferred to support the views which he approved whether professed by the one party or the other. He was long an office-bearer in the Congregational Church over which Dr. Wardlaw, Dr. Raleigh, and Mr. Batchelor were placed.
Small of stature, Mr. Smith was firmly knit and particularly active in his movements. To the last he adhered to the fashion of attending business in a full-dress black cloth suit such as was commonly worn by merchants a generation before. He was perhaps the last in the city to hold on to this now obsolete fashion. Mr. Smith died in 1876, and is survived by a son and daughter. His son George is now at the head of the business originated by his father and uncle, and in his hands it has already materially increased.
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