Reginald Bosworth Smith

Reginald Bosworth Smith (1839 to 1908) was an English schoolmaster and author. He enters this record as a biographer, not an actor: his Life of Lord Lawrence is the standard Victorian biography of Sir John Lawrence, who administered the Punjab after the British annexed it in 1849. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism lists the book in its own bibliography for Lawrence.

Key moments

• 28 June 1839: born at West Stafford rectory, Dorset. He was educated at Marlborough College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, graduating in 1862 with first-class honours.
• 1863: elected a fellow and tutor of Trinity College, Oxford.
• 16 September 1864: begins as a classical master at Harrow, where he stayed more than thirty years and became housemaster of The Knoll in 1870.
• 1874 and 1878: publishes Mohammed and Mohammedanism and Carthage and the Carthaginians.
• 1879: Lawrence's family commission his biography of Lord Lawrence.
• February 1883: the Life of Lord Lawrence appears in two volumes. Its first 1,000 copies sold within days. Critics praised its accuracy and style, though his views on the Afghan frontier and his criticism of Hodson drew objections.
• 1901: retires from Harrow.
• 18 October 1908: dies at Bingham's Melcombe, Dorset.

Why Sikhs read him with care

The Encyclopaedia says John Lawrence joined the Punjab Board of Administration after the annexation, became Chief Commissioner when the Board was dissolved in 1853, and disbanded and dispersed the 92,000-strong Khalsa army. It adds that he ruled with severity and differed sharply from his brother Henry, who favoured conciliation. Bosworth Smith wrote Lawrence's life at the request of Lawrence's family, so the book was written for them.

He is remembered as a Harrow master and writer, and in Punjab history as the author through whom the Lawrence version of 1849 to 1858 reached English readers.