David Smith

Who is David Smith?

David L. Smith is a noted historian of the Early Modern period of British history, particularly political, constitutional, legal and religious history in the Stuart period. He is the author or co-author of eight books, and the editor or co-editor of five others. He was educated at Eastbourne College and then went up to Selwyn College, Cambridge, as a Scholar in October 1982. At Selwyn he took Firsts in both Parts of the Historical Tripos, graduating in 1985. He went on to take his PGCE with Distinction in 1986, his MA in 1989, and his PhD in 1990. In 1991 he won the Royal Historical Society's Alexander Prize, and Cambridge University's Thirlwall Prize for historical research.

He has been a Fellow of Selwyn College since 1988. He has also served as a Director of Studies in History since 1992, and as a Graduate Tutor since 2004. For nearly twelve years he was Admissions Tutor at Selwyn, a period during which the College's academic performance improved markedly. From 1994 until 2006 he was also the College's Praelector.

He has been an Affiliated Lecturer in the Faculty of History at Cambridge since 1995, and he served as Convenor of the Directors of Studies in History from 2006 to 2010. He also teaches regular weekend, day-school and summer school courses for Cambridge's Institute of Continuing Education, and he has been Programme Director of the Institute's annual History Summer School since 2005. He was a member of the Institute's Management Board from 2005 to 2008, and he became an Affiliated Lecturer of the Institute in 2012.