Larratt W. Smith, D.C.L., K.C. (1820-1905)
Ex-Vice-Chancellor, University of Toronto and a Past-President of the Toronto Astronomical Society.
This photo was published in the Transcactions for 1901.
The following obituary was published in the RASC Transactions for 1905.
LARRATT WILLIAM SMITH was born at Stonehouse, Devon,
England, on November 20, 1820, and died in Toronto on Septem-
ber 18, 1905. He was educated at Upper Canada College and
King's College. The latter institution was formally opened on
June 8, 1843, and Larratt W. Smith was one of the class of
twenty-six students who then signed the roll. He received the
degree of B.C.L. in 1848 and that of D.C.L. ten years later. In
1843 he was called to the bar and later he was made a Q.C. by
the Ontario Government. He was elected a senator and twice
was vice-chancellor of the University of Toronto. He was presi-
dent, in 1895, of what is now the Royal Astronomical Society of
Canada and his portrait is the frontispiece for the Transactions
for the year 1901.
Dr. Smith had also many other interests. In 1837 he served
as a lieutenant in the North York militia and he retained
an interest in military affairs. His business connections were
many and important, and he was also president of the Imperial
Federation League.
Dr. Smith's interest in astronomy was much quickened by
his association with the late J. G. Howard, who presented High
Park to the city of Toronto, and who gave Dr. Smith an excellent
three-inch refracting telescope, which the latter, in turn, presented
to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
