Sir Henry Babington Smith (29 January 1863 – 29 September 1923) was a senior British civil servant, who served in a wide range of posts overseas, mostly financial, before becoming a director of the Bank of England. He was related to the Babington family through his maternal grandmother Mary, a daughter of Thomas Babington, and his children took the double surname Babington Smith.
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Early life and education
Smith was born at Riverbank, Putney, London on 29 February 1863, the son of the lawyer and mathematician Archibald Smith. His brothers were James Parker Smith, later an MP, and Arthur Hamilton Smith, later Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read classics. He was a Cambridge Apostle.
Career
In 1887, he joined the Board of Education as an examiner, but in 1891 became principal private secretary to the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Goschen.
In 1894, he became private secretary to Lord Elgin on his appointment as Viceroy of India. This relationship was cemented when he married the Viceroy's eldest daughter, Lady Elisabeth Mary Bruce (1877–1944), on 22 September 1898 in Simla. For his work in India, he was appointed Companion of the Order of the Star of India (CSI) in 1897.