William Smithe

Who was William Smithe?

William Smithe was a British Columbia politician.

Smithe was born William Smith in England and moved to Canada in his youth, settling on Vancouver Island in 1862 as a farmer. In 1871, he ran in BC's first election and won a seat in the new provincial legislature. There he added the final "e" to his name, probably to distinguish himself as clearly as possible from the colourful figure of Amor De Cosmos. De Cosmos, also then a member of the legislature, had likewise been born as "William Smith," but in a characteristically grand gesture had legally adopted instead a new name meaning "Love of the Universe."

By 1875 Smithe had become the informal leader of the opposition to Premier George Anthony Walkem's government, but yielded the leadership to Andrew Charles Elliott. Smithe was in Elliott's short lived cabinet from 1876 to 1878 before returning to the opposition benches and again became opposition leader.

In 1883, Smithe became the seventh Premier of British Columbia and initiated the Great Potlatch era in which governments made generous grants of public resources and land to private entrepreneurs.