Linton Smith

Who was Linton Smith?

Martin Linton Smith was an Anglican bishop who served in three dioceses during the first half of the twentieth century.

Smith was born into a clerical family and educated at Repton and Hertford College, Oxford. Ordained priest in 1894 he was a curate at four parishes before securing his own incumbency at Colchester in 1902. By now married to Kathleen Dewe with a young family, he gained experience in Liverpool eventually becoming a Cathedral Canon. His finest hour, however, was the First World War where he gained the DSO for his sterling work at The Somme, Arras and Ypres.

When peace came he was raised to the episcopate, firstly for two years as the suffragan Bishop of Warrington; then translated to the more senior post of diocesan Bishop of Hereford in 1920, serving there for a decade; and, finally, a further nine years as Bishop of Rochester. Retiring to Cheltenham in 1940 he died after a long life “rich in service”.