Dates

• Existence: 1904 - 1972

Biography

James Smith (1904-1972) was born at Batley, near Leeds, on 17 June 1904. He attended the local grammar school before entering Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied English and modern and medieval languages. He was Visiting Fellow at Princeton University, New Jersey, 1928-1930, and H.M. Inspector of Schools, 1934-1937. After working as an examiner for the Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate, he spent the war working in education in Venezuela. Smith returned to Cambridge in 1946, where he carried out examining and supervision work. In 1947 he was appointed Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He retired to Cambridge in 1969, and died on 1 August 1972. Smith's principal published work is Shakespearian and other essays (1974), an interpretation of Shakespeare's comedies. His planned series of Beowulf, remained uncompleted at his death essays, intended to establish English literary tradition going back to

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