Walsmley Smith | ANZ Clergy


About Help Contact login Rev Walsmley Smith SJ Title: Rev First Name: Walsmley Middle Names: James Preferred Name: Surname: Smith Order: SJ Date of Birth: 02-Apr-1904 Place of Birth: Richmond, Melbourne VIC Country of Birth: Australia Date of Ordination: Place of Ordination: Country of Ordination: Ordination Diocese: Seminary: Date of Death: 04-Apr-1989 Place of Death: Kew, Melbourne VIC Country of Death: Australia Date of Burial: 07-Apr-1989 Place of Burial: Boroondara, Kew VIC Country of Burial: Australia Find A Grave URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/208254606 FindaGrave - Person Photo FindaGrave - Grave Photo Biographical Notes Fr David Strong SJ, The Australian dictionary of Jesuit biography 1848-2015, Second Edition, 2017: Smith, Walmsley Teacher, mathematician; born Richmond, Melbourne, 2 April 1904; died St Raphael's Nursing Home, Kew, Melbourne, 5 April 1989, aged 85. Walmsley Smith was a man who experienced self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy, especially in his later days. This might seem hard to believe in a man who was so gifted intellectually. He was a good teacher of mathematics, and a man of wide interests, which included the garden and astronomy. Smith was baptised, 10 April 1904, by Thomas Cahill, the first rector of Xavier College. He lived in Hawthorn, and came to Xavier College aged 11. After school he took out an engineering degree at Melbourne University, 1930, joined the Jesuits, 25 March 1930, and completed his Jesuit studies in Sydney, Ireland and California. His regency was spent teaching mathematics to the juniors, 1932-34. He left California on one of the last ships before the bombing of Pearl Harbour and settled down at Xavier College in 1941 to teach mathematics until he retired in 1973. For a few years in the 1940s he was rowing master. For twenty years he was a member of the Mathematics Standing Committee for the Victorian Universities and Schools Examinations Board, 1948-1968. Testimony to his intellectual interests was his personal library, which contained subjects on mathematics, geography, astronomy, geometry and gardening. This was followed by 16 years of retirement, many of which gave him joy in pursuing his interests of music, gardening and reading. His virtues were never conventional or conformist. He was not into being polite or particularly co-operative; he certainly had very little time for suffering in silence. Greg Dening described him as a maverick who reached into the hearts of lonely and troubled boys. He also reached into the minds of clever and keen students: he animated them to love and cherish their work. He developed a limp shortly before his twenty-first birthday as a result of an accident that resulted in a twisted foot. For the rest of his life he needed to use a stick, and with that stick he could give direction, gesticulate, and prod tardy scholars. (Reproduced by permission of Fr David Strong SJ.)

Title:

Rev

First Name:

Walsmley

Middle Names:

James

Preferred Name:

Surname:

Smith

Order:

Date of Birth:

02-Apr-1904

Place of Birth:

Richmond, Melbourne VIC

Country of Birth:

Australia

Date of Ordination:

Place of Ordination:

Country of Ordination:

Ordination Diocese:

Seminary:

Date of Death:

04-Apr-1989

Place of Death:

Kew, Melbourne VIC

Country of Death:

Australia

Date of Burial:

07-Apr-1989

Place of Burial:

Boroondara, Kew VIC

Country of Burial:

Australia

Find A Grave URL:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/208254606

FindaGrave - Person Photo

FindaGrave - Grave Photo

Fr David Strong SJ, The Australian dictionary of Jesuit biography 1848-2015, Second Edition, 2017:
Smith, Walmsley

Teacher, mathematician; born Richmond, Melbourne, 2 April 1904; died St Raphael's Nursing Home, Kew, Melbourne, 5 April 1989, aged 85.

Walmsley Smith was a man who experienced self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy, especially in his later days. This might seem hard to believe in a man who was so gifted intellectually. He was a good teacher of mathematics, and a man of wide interests, which included the garden and astronomy.

Smith was baptised, 10 April 1904, by Thomas Cahill, the first rector of Xavier College. He lived in Hawthorn, and came to Xavier College aged 11. After school he took out an engineering degree at Melbourne University, 1930, joined the Jesuits, 25 March 1930, and completed his Jesuit studies in Sydney, Ireland and California. His regency was spent teaching mathematics to the juniors, 1932-34.

He left California on one of the last ships before the bombing of Pearl Harbour and settled down at Xavier College in 1941 to teach mathematics until he retired in 1973. For a few years in the 1940s he was rowing master. For twenty years he was a member of the Mathematics Standing Committee for the Victorian Universities and Schools Examinations Board, 1948-1968.

Testimony to his intellectual interests was his personal library, which contained subjects on mathematics, geography, astronomy, geometry and gardening.

This was followed by 16 years of retirement, many of which gave him joy in pursuing his interests of music, gardening and reading.

His virtues were never conventional or conformist. He was not into being polite or particularly co-operative; he certainly had very little time for suffering in silence. Greg Dening described him as a maverick who reached into the hearts of lonely and troubled boys. He also reached into the minds of clever and keen students: he animated them to love and cherish their work. He developed a limp shortly before his twenty-first birthday as a result of an accident that resulted in a twisted foot. For the rest of his life he needed to use a stick, and with that stick he could give direction, gesticulate, and prod tardy scholars.

(Reproduced by permission of Fr David Strong SJ.)

Rev Walsmley Smith SJ

Biographical Notes