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Line 5: ==History== Thomas Smeaton was born in London "within sound of Bow Bells", and trained as an engineer. He was sponsored by the [[South Australian Company]] to emigrate to South Australia, but finding no opening for an engineer joined the Company's financial institution, the [[Bank of South Australia (1837)|Bank of South Australia]] as a clerk sometime before 1856, later as the bank's accountant. In 1864 he was appointed manager of the newly formed branch in [[Robe, South Australia|Robe]], where he was an active as President of the Robe Institute, and where his wife, a popular Sunday-school teacher, died in childbirth. He returned to the Adelaide head office as assistant manager, and served as manager on numerous occasions between 1870 and 1884 when he retired to his home "Dalebank" in [[Blakiston, South Australia|Blakiston]]. Around 1904 he moved to [[Crafers, South Australia|Mount Lofty]], where he died after some months in poor health.<ref name=Register>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56977257 |title=The Late Mr. T. D. Smeaton |newspaper=[[The Register (Adelaide)|The Register]] |location=Adelaide |date=19 February 1908 |accessdate= ==Other interests== {{unreferencedsect|date=August 2024}} Smeaton was a well-read man, both of literature and scientific subjects, of which he had a wide knowledge and great enthusiasm.<ref name=Register /> He was in 1853 a founding member of the [[Adelaide Philosophical Society]],<ref name=Register /> and chairman in 1860. [[Professor Stirling]] was a firm friend, as was [[Robert William Chapman (engineer)|Professor (later Sir) Robert Chapman]] of Adelaide University.<ref name=Register /> An article by him on rainbows was published in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''; he regularly contributed articles to ''[[The Register (Adelaide)|The Register]]'', and he corresponded with many authors of ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' articles, offering useful criticism.<ref name=Register /> He was a member of the [[Royal Adelaide Hospital|Adelaide Hospital]] Board for some years, and was one of the founders and longtime honorary secretary of that hospital's Good Samaritan Fund.<ref name=Register /> ==Family== | |||