caption death_date death_place birth_place image_size birth_date image article_title name
anglican bishop of hong kong 14 december 1871 blackheath , kent , england wellington , somerset , england 175px june 19 , 1815 bishop george smith.jpg george smith -lrb- bishop of victoria -rrb-
 george smith
george smith -lrb- bishop of victoria -rrb-

george smith -lrb- chinese : 施美夫 ; 19 june 1815 -- 14 december 1871 -rrb- was a missionary in china and the anglican bishop of victoria -lrb- hong kong -rrb- from 1849 to 1865 , the first of this newly established diocese .
smith was born in wellington , somerset on 19 june 1815 .
he obtained a ba in classics from oxford in 1837 -lrb- and an ma in 1843 and dd in 1849 -rrb- and was ordained as a deacon in 1839 and a priest in 1840 .
he rapidly became involved in the church missionary society and arrived in hong kong on 25 september 1844 as one of the first two church of england missionaries to china .
poor health forced an early return to england , but smith 's `` narrative '' of his period in china was published in 1847 .
smith worked hard to rise money for further missionary work in china , and in 1849 was made bishop of the new diocese of victoria -lrb- hong kong -rrb- and warden of the newly founded st paul 's missionary college -lrb- see st. paul 's college -rrb- .
with his new wife lydia , `` née '' brandram , smith arrived in hong kong on 29 march 1850 and threw himself into missionary and educational work .
he learned mandarin , becoming sufficiently fluent to conduct services in it .
smith was also responsible for missionary work in china and japan .
a weak constitution limited this work , but he nevertheless visited japan -lrb- 1860 -rrb- , the ryukyu islands -lrb- 1850 -rrb- , india and ceylon -lrb- 1852 -- 1853 -rrb- , australia -lrb- 1859 -rrb- , and elsewhere , partly to work for emigrants from china .
smith left hong kong for the last time in 1864 , retiring from the bishopric the next year .
he died in his house at blackheath -lrb- then in kent , now in london -rrb- , on 14 december 1871 after a short illness .
