| Biography | Born in Kippax, West Yorkshire, Smith was orphaned at a young age and spent time in a workhouse before being adopted by a local couple, one of whom was a miner. Smith then studied in Glasshoughton and Pontefract, and began working as a miner at the age of ten. Smith became active in his union, being elected to the branch committee at the age of seventeen, then in 1894 becoming a checkweighman. In 1896 he became Chairman of Castleford Trades Council, and in 1906 he became President of the Yorkshire Miners' Association. He joined the Independent Labour Party, and was elected to the West Riding County Council in 1903, and stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in Morley at the December 1910 UK general election. He was later elected as a councillor in Barnsley.
Smith was also involved in the International Miners Federation, serving a President from 1921 until 1929, and in Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB), becoming its President in 1922. He was active in support of the UK general strike of 1926, but resigned as MFGB President in 1929, objecting to the organisation's agreement to lengthen miners' hours. Despite standing for re-election to the post in 1930 and 1931, he was unsuccessful, but he did serve as Mayor of Barnsley in 1932.
Smith became nationally known for leading rescue efforts following mining disasters, starting with the Wellington Pit Disaster in Whitehaven in 1910, and including the Bentley Pit Disaster of 1931 and the Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery Disaster of 1936. |