Blockchain Scalability

Arthur Britton (“Brit”) Smith, Order of Canada, Order of Ontario, Military Cross, Canadian Forces Decoration, Queen's Counsel Ontario, Legum Doctor (hon.), of Kingston, Ontario, Canada, is well known, especially in Kingston and eastern Ontario, for his distinguished record as a soldier, lawyer, businessman, historical writer and philanthropist. 
==Personal life and family==
Arthur Britton Smith was born in Kingston, Ontario, Ontario, Canada on May 13, 1920, the son of Cyril Middleton Smith, a lawyer, and Edna Madeline Smith (née Spooner). Both of his parents were originally from Manitoba. He and two sisters were raised in Kingston, growing up on Stuart Street. He received his primary and secondary education at Victoria Public School and Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute. 
In 1944, a few days after arriving home from the war and while still recovering from his wounds, Smith married his fiancée of four years, Edith Burpee (“Sally”) Carruthers of Kingston. They raised three children: Sheila, Britton and Alexander. The couple was together for 68 years before Sally died of cancer in 2012. 
Over the years, Smith's hobbies and pastimes have included boating, hunting, fishing, tennis, horseback riding, breeding Arabian horses, raising Aberdeen cattle, and collecting old books. 
In 2020, Smith, still relatively healthy and spry for his age, celebrated his 100th birthday.
==Military service==
Smith first joined the military in 1935 when, as a 15-year-old school boy, he enlisted as a part-time reservist in the 32nd (Kingston) Field Battery, an artillery unit in the Non-Permanent Active Militia. In 1938, aged 18, he became a cadet (#2652) at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC), located in his hometown of Kingston. Upon completing the program at RMC in 1940, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA), a corps of the Canadian Army. World War II was underway and that same year Smith was sent overseas to the United Kingdom, posted to the 8th Field Regiment, RCA. Smith later recalled that, as a young professional soldier, he was "delighted to have the opportunity to fight the war." In 1942, he was promoted to the rank of captain and transferred to the 4th Field Regiment, RCA.
In early July 1944, about a month after D-Day, Smith landed in Normandy, France, as part of the invasion follow-on forces. He was the commander of 'C' Troop, 14th Battery, 4th Field Regiment, RCA, which was part of the 2nd Canadian Division during World War II. His time in France was to be brief, but eventful. 
Smith's unit went into the front lines on the night of July 11. On July 20, Smith was artillery Forward Observation Officer (FOO) with a company of the Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal|Fusiliers Mont-Royal (FMR), a French-Canadian infantry unit, during fierce and bloody Battle of Verrières Ridge|fighting in the area of Verrières, just south of Caen. (It was standard practice for the artillery troop commanders to act as FOOs - to in effect lead from the front.) Smith was lucky to survive. After the FMR initially took Troteval Farm, Smith was behind a wall speaking with another officer, when a hand grenade was tossed from the other side and exploded in between the two officers. Fortunately it was a German Model 39 grenade |"egg" grenade, which was not very powerful in open, unconfined spaces, and left Smith with only some minor cuts. Smith asked a nearby Canadian tank to knock a hole through the wall, which he then rushed through looking for the enemy who had thrown the grenade. A German soldier, armed with a MP40 |"Schmeisser" submachine gun, suddenly appeared and fired a short burst at Smith, with two bullets hitting Smith in his chest. Smith however was wearing body armour - plates of dense moulded plastic that shielded the most vital areas of his torso - which the Canadian Army had issued to infantry soldiers and forward artillery crews going to Normandy. The bullets left two indentations in Smith's chest plate, each about an inch deep, but he suffered only bruising. 
During the remainder of that day and night and the following day, enemy armour and infantry (including elements of the tough, brutal 12th SS Panzer Division) mounted no fewer than four counter-attacks on the farm. Smith coolly and effectively directed artillery fire that broke up each of these counter-attacks. To accurately direct the guns, he several times had to move to exposed positions in the face of heavy enemy fire. On one occasion, he and the few soldiers in his Observation Post, killed and repulsed several enemy troops who had got within 20 yards of their position. In a final German counter-attack on the farm, the FMR company - now critically low on ammunition and its strength significantly depleted by casualties - was overrun. On this occasion too, Smith by his effective direction of artillery fire inflicted severe casualties on the enemy. He then withdrew under heavy fire and avoided being captured. For his conduct in this action, Smith was awarded the Military Cross. (Postscript: a few days later, on July 24, 1944, another company from the FMR, under Jacques Dextraze |Major J.A. Dextraze, again seized Troteval Farm and held it.) Note: In the years after the war, Dextraze rose to the rank of general and served as Chief of Defence Staff during 1972-77.
On the morning of July 25, Smith was a FOO with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry during an Operation Spring. As he advanced through a grain field, in dim pre-dawn light, his Universal Carrier - a small, light tracked armoured vehicle, commonly called a "Bren gun carrier" - detonated a German anti-tank mine. Smith's driver was instantly killed. Despite a lining of sandbags in the bottom of the Carrier, Smith's right leg was badly shattered and he was thrown high into the air and out of the vehicle. At least four enemy machine guns began firing at the area where the flash of the exploding mine had been seen. Smith and his two signallers crawled away through the grain field, with machine gun bullets flying all around. 
One of the bullets ricocheted off the ground and hit Smith in the side of his head, embedding itself behind his right ear. Smith was evacuated from the war zone, and ultimately repatriated to Canada in November 1944.
After spending several months in hospitals in France, the UK and Canada, Smith began a staff job at Kingston. In relatively short order though, as a result of the lingering effects of his injuries, he was medically discharged from the army, his career as a professional soldier over. Nevertheless, years later Smith speculated that he may be lucky to have been wounded, as the chances were high that he would have been killed had he not been wounded and instead remained in action.
In addition to having won the Military Cross for gallantry, Smith received several service medals to recognize his war service: the 1939-1945 Star; the France and Germany Star; the Defence Medal (United Kingdom); the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, with overseas bar; and the War Medal 1939-1945. In 2014, the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy, Smith's wartime service was further recognized when France awarded him its Légion d’honneur |ordre national de la Légion d’honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour). 
Following the war, in 1948, Smith joined an infantry reserve unit in Kingston, The Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment (PWOR), in which he served as a company commander until 1954. He later served as the PWOR’s Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel from 1968 to 1974, and as the Colonel (title)|Honorary Colonel from 1974 to 1985 and again from 1992 to 1995.
==Law and business==
Following his service in World War II, Smith in 1945 began to work at becoming a lawyer. In Ontario at that time, prospective lawyers went through a three-year Bar admission process, involving “articling” (in effect apprenticing) at a law firm, while also taking some courses part-time at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. (In those days, Osgoode Hall Law School was not affiliated with any university but rather was directly operated by the Law Society of Upper Canada; it provided a non-degree program of professional training to student lawyers.) Smith completed this process in 1948 and was admitted to Ontario's legal profession as a barrister and solicitor. Several years later, he was granted a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree; this degree was retroactively offered, in 1991, to persons who had been graduated by Osgoode Hall Law School in the years before it became a degree-granting institution. After becoming a lawyer in 1948, Smith established a law office in Kingston and practised for 50 years. 
Early in his legal career, Smith began to dabble as a “hobby” in residential development and rentals. It is in this field that he became especially well known. In 1954, Smith founded Homestead Land Holdings Limited, a land development, construction and residential rentals company. Smith built Homestead into one of the largest residential landlords in all of Canada, ultimately owning and marketing over 27,000 rental units in 16 cities across eastern, central and western Ontario and in Calgary, Alberta.
==Historical writing==
Smith has produced two books and a journal article, all on historical subjects:
Oh Kingston! An Anthology (Kingston: Brown & Martin, 1987). Edited by Smith, it is - as the title suggests - an anthology. It comprises a collection of excerpts from older works related to the history of Kingston, Ontario, many of which are obscure or otherwise difficult to access, spanning a period from the 18th century to the early 20th century.
of the Lake: The 22-Gun Brig-Sloop Ontario, 1780 (Kingston: Quarry Press, 1997). Authored by Smith, it is the story of HMS Ontario (1780) |HMS Ontario, a naval ship built near Kingston. She was commissioned into service in 1780 to defend the British Province of Quebec (1763-1791) |Province of Quebec during the American Revolutionary War. On October 31, 1780, just six months after being commissioned, she foundered and sank in Lake Ontario, with the loss of all on board, during a severe storm. This book is thoroughly researched and is an authoritative reference work on HMS Ontario.
"A FOO at Troteval Farm: 20-21 July 1944", published in the Canadian Military History Journal in 2005. It is Smith's account of the action in World War II that resulted in his being awarded the Military Cross.
==Community service and philanthropy==
===Community service===
The following is at least a partial list of Smith’s volunteer and community service:
*Colonel (title)|Honorary Colonel, |The Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment, 1974-85 and 1992-95 
*President of the Royal Military College Club of Canada, 1983-84 
*Executive member of the Royal Military College Club of Canada, 1957-83
*Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel, |The Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment, 1968-74 
*Chairman of |Kingston's United Way charitable fundraising campaign, 1967
*Alderman (i.e. elected councillor) on Kingston City Council, serving for three terms, 1949-55
===Philanthropy===
Smith, personally as well as through his charitable foundation (the Britton Smith Foundation) and his closely-held corporation (Homestead Land Holdings Limited), has donated money to numerous charities and community projects. The following is a partial list of these philanthropic donations:
*A gift of about $3.2 million to the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, in 2019, to enable it to purchase a site on the waterfront in downtown Kingston. 
*A $10,000 matching donation to the 2019 annual campaign of the Seniors Association Kingston Region. 
*A donation of $300,000 to Nanny Angel Network, a non-profit organization that provides free in-home relief childcare for mothers with cancer.
*A gift of $4.5 million, in 2018, to Hospice Kingston toward the building of a hospice residence and palliative care centre. 
*A gift of $5 million to the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation, in 2018, toward building a new Providence Manor long-term care facility in Kingston. 
*A “transformational” gift to the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation, in 2018, to support the purchase of a robot-assisted surgical system for the Kingston Health Sciences Centre. 
* A gift in 2017-18 to fund, through the RMC Foundation, the purchase of 1400 “Universal Pattern” pith helmets for the Royal Military College of Canada and the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean, enabling the Colleges to return to the tradition of every cadet wearing such a helmet at full-dress ceremonial parades. 
* Donations totaling more than $1 million to the RMC Foundation to support activities beyond the mandate of the Canadian Armed Forces at the Canadian Military Colleges. 
* A gift of $1.125 million to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, in 2017, to support various projects including work on the recreation hall at the CNIB's Lake Joseph Centre (an accessible camp in Muskoka, Ontario), the redevelopment of CNIB facilities in Kingston and Ottawa, and new programs in eastern Ontario. 
* A gift of $700,000 in 2017 to support the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston & Area, the largest donation that the club had ever received. 
* A gift of $10 million to Queen's University, Canada |Queen’s University in 2014. Of this, $4.5 million was for the School of Nursing (which was the largest gift ever to the School), $4.5 million for the Department of Surgery, and $1 million for upgrading Richardson Stadium. 
* A gift of $3 million in 2016 to St. Lawrence College, Ontario|St. Lawrence College. This was the largest single gift ever in the College’s history. 
* A gift of $1.2 million in 2016 through the United Way, to support a home for homeless youth. This was the largest single gift that the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington had ever received in its 75-year history. 
* A gift of $3 million to the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation, in 2015, toward the purchase a second magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine for the Kingston General Hospital site of Kingston Health Sciences Centre. 
*A donation of $2 million, in 2007, to the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation to support the redevelopment of Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston General Hospital and Providence Continuing Care Centre.
* A gift of $200,000, in 2007, to the campaign to raise funds to build a civic sports and entertainment centre in Kingston.
* Constructed, through his company (Homestead Land Holdings Limited), in 1979, a new entranceway to the grounds of the Royal Military College of Canada, and donated much of the cost of the project. 
==List of honours and awards==
===Orders, decorations and medals===
* Member of the Order of Canada (CM) (2019) 
* Order of Ontario (OOnt) (2018) 
* Military Cross (MC) (1944) 
* 1939-1945 Star
* France and Germany Star
* Defence Medal (United Kingdom)
* Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, with overseas bar
* War Medal 1939-1945
* 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal (1992)
* Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)
* Efficiency Medal
* Canadian Forces' Decoration (CD), with one clasp 
* Chevalier dans Legion of Honour (France) (2014) 
===Other honours and awards===
*Queen's Counsel (QC) (Ontario) (1958) 
*Honorary degree of Legum Doctor|Doctor of Laws (LL.D.), Royal Military College of Canada (1989) 
*Honorary degree of Legum Doctor (LL.D.), Queen's University at Kingston, Kingston, Ontario (2009) 
*Wall of Honour, Royal Military College of Canada (2017) 
*Honorary President, Royal Military Colleges Club of Canada (2015). 
*Honorary Colonel's Commendation, The Princess of Wales' Regiment.
*Lifetime Honorary Membership in the Royal Military Colleges Club of Canada (2009). 
*Honorary Patron of the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington
*Kingston Business Hall of Fame (2006) (inaugural inductee) 
*Jim Bennett Award, Queen’s University Alumni Association (2003) 
*Paul Harris (Rotary)|Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary Club of Kingston (1993) 
*Kingston Chamber of Commerce’s Business Person of the Year (1990) 
== References ==
Category:People from Ontario
Category:Military of Canada
Category:Canadian lawyers