In the 1859 Boat Race "the race was rowed in a gale of wind, and the Cambridge boat filled and sank between Barnes Bridge and the finish.... Smith alone of the Cambridge oarsmen could not swim, and sat stolidly rowing until, when the water was up to his neck, he was rescued." In later years he regularly bet a new hat on the Boat Race with W.B. Woodgate "on principle and from patriotism to his flag, even when public favour and market odds might seem to be dead against the hopes of his own club."[6]
He married, in 1867, Isobel Fletcher, daughter of John Charles Fletcher, of Dale Park, Sussex, and had sons Archibald, Geoffrey and Ralph, and daughters Isabel, Elinor, Winnifred and Marjorie. Smith lived at Salt Hill, Chichester, and 40 Cadogan Place, London.
Lady Smith drowned in the River Spey in August 1901, during a visit to the estate of their son-in-law J. W. H. Grant, in Aberlour, Morayshire.[9]
Sir Archibald fell ill and also died in Aberlour less than two months later, on 20 October 1901, at the age of 65.[10] He is buried in the churchyard at Knockando.[11]
Their younger son Geoffrey Smith also drowned, at Rosherville, near Johannesburg, South Africa, in August 1902, at 29 years old.[12]
Judgments
Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company [1892] EWCA Civ 1, [1893] 1 QB 256, [1892] 2 QB 484 (QBD) - an advertisement containing certain terms to get a reward constituted a binding unilateral offer that could be accepted by anyone who performed its terms.
Groves v Lord Wimborne [1898] 2 Q.B. 402 - breach of a duty to fence off machinery (under the Factory and Workshop Act 1878) could give rise to civil as well as criminal liability in the absence of a clear statutory intent to the contrary.