Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, Charles Felix
SMITH, Sir CHARLES FELIX (1786–1858), lieutenant-general, and colonel commandant of royal engineers, second son of George Smith of Burn Hall, Durham, by his wife Juliet, daughter and sole heiress of Richard Mott of Carlton, Suffolk, was born on 9 July 1786 at Piercefield, Monmouthshire. Elizabeth Smith [q. v.] was his sister, and George Smith (1693–1756) [q. v.] was his great-grandfather. He joined the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich on 15 June 1801, and received a commission as second lieutenant in the royal engineers on 1 Oct. 1802. On the 9th of the same month he was promoted to be first lieutenant. He was sent to the south-eastern military district, and was employed on the defences of the south coast of Kent.
On 16 Dec. 1804 he embarked for the West Indies, where he served under Sir Charles Shipley [q. v.], the commanding royal engineer. He was promoted to be second captain on 18 Nov. 1807. In December 1807 he accompanied the expedition under General Bowyer from Barbados against the Danish West India Islands, and took part under Shipley in the operations which resulted in the capture of St. Thomas, St. John, and Santa Cruz. In January 1809 he accompanied the expedition under Sir George Beckwith to attack Martinique, and took part under Shipley in the attack on, and capture of, Pigeon Island on 4 Feb., and in the siege and capture of Fort Bourbon, which led to the capitulation of the whole island on 23 Feb. He was severely wounded on this occasion, and on his return to England on 31 March 1810 he received a pension of 100l. per annum for his wounds.
On 25 Oct. of the same year Smith embarked for the Peninsula, and joined the force of Sir Thomas Graham at Cadiz, then blockaded by the French. In the spring of 1811 an attempt to raise the siege was made by sending a force by water to Tarifa to march on the flank of the enemy, while at the same time a sortie was made by the garrison of Cadiz and La Isla across the river San Pedro. Smith was left in Cadiz as senior engineer officer in charge of it, as well as of La Isla and the adjacent country, during the operations which comprised the battle of Barossa (5 March 1811). In spite of this victory the siege was not raised, and the British retired within the lines of La Isla.
Smith's health suffered a good deal at Cadiz, and he was sent to Tarifa, near Gibraltar, where he was commanding royal engineer during the siege by the French, eight thousand strong, under General Laval. Colonel Skerrett commanded the garrison, which was made up of drafts from regiments at Gibraltar and Spanish details, numbering some 2,300 men. The outposts were driven in on 19 Dec., and in ten days the French batteries opened fire. During this time Smith was busy making such preparations as he could for the defence of a very weak place. When, however, a gaping breach was made by the French after a few hours' firing, Skerrett called a council of war, proposed to abandon the defence, to embark the garrison on board the transports lying in the roadstead, and to sail for Gibraltar. Smith vehemently opposed the proposal, and prepared to make the most desperate resistance. Intimation of the state of affairs was sent to the governor of Gibraltar, who promptly removed the transports and so compelled Skerrett to hold out. He also arranged to send assistance from Gibraltar. On 31 Dec. 1811 the French made an unsuccessful assault. Bad weather and a continuous downpour of rain greatly damaged the French batteries and trenches, and supply became difficult owing to the state of the roads. On the night of 4 Jan. 1812 it became known to the garrison that the French were preparing to raise the siege, and on the morning of the 5th the allies assumed the offensive, drove the French from their batteries and trenches, and compelled them to make a hurried retreat, leaving everything in the hands of the garrison. By general consent the chief merit of the defence has been given to Smith. Napier, in his ‘History of the War in the Peninsula’ (iv. 59, 60), points out that though Skerrett eventually yielded to Smith's energy, he did it with reluctance, and constantly during the siege impeded the works by calling off the labourers to prepare posts of retreat. ‘To the British engineer, therefore, belongs the praise of this splendid action.’
Smith was promoted for his services at Tarifa to be brevet major, to date from 31 Dec. 1811. He was promoted to be first captain in the royal engineers on 12 April 1812, and returned to Cadiz, where he was commanding royal engineer until the siege was raised in July of that year. In the following year he took part in the action of Osma (18 June 1813), the battle of Vittoria (21 June), and the engagements at Villa Franca and Tolosa (24 and 25 June), when he had a horse shot under him. He accompanied Sir Thomas Graham on 1 July to take part in the siege of San Sebastian. On the visit of the Duke of Wellington on the 12th, he attended him round the positions as senior officer (for the time being) of royal engineers, and his proposed plans of operation met with Wellington's approval. The place fell on 9 Sept., and, having been mentioned in Graham's despatch, Smith was promoted to be brevet lieutenant-colonel on 21 Sept. 1813 ‘for conduct before the enemy at San Sebastian.’
Smith arrived in Belgium and Holland from the south of France in July 1814, and reached England in August. He was knighted by the prince regent on 10 Nov., and on the same date he received permission to accept and wear the crosses of the royal orders of Carlos III and San Fernando of Spain, given to him by the king for his services in the Peninsula, particularly at the defence of Tarifa. On 28 April 1815 he was appointed commanding royal engineer of the Sussex military district. On 4 June he was made a companion of the order of the Bath, military division. He received the gold medal with clasp for Vittoria and San Sebastian. The previous pension of 100l. for his wounds at Martinique was increased to 300l. a year on 18 June 1815, as he had partially lost the sight of an eye in the Peninsula.
On 19 June 1815 Smith joined the British army in Belgium as commanding royal engineer of the second corps, marched with it to Paris, and took part in the entry into that city on 7 July. He was one of the officers selected by the Duke of Wellington to take over the French fortresses to be occupied by the British. He remained with the army of occupation and commanded the engineers at Vincennes. He was one of the officers who introduced stage-coaches-and-four into Paris. The coaches used to meet opposite Demidoff's house, afterwards the Café de Paris. He was also a great supporter of the turf, and was the first to import English thoroughbred horses for racing. His trainer was Tom Hurst, afterwards of Chantilly. He organised races at Vincennes, and the racing there was considerably superior to that under royal patronage in the Champ de Mars. Smith was a noted duellist, and was equally at home with rapier, sabre, and pistol. Although never seeking a quarrel, he never permitted an insult, and he killed three Frenchmen in duels during his stay in Paris. He was also an expert boxer. He returned to England on 8 Nov. 1818.
Smith was employed in the south of England as commanding royal engineer until 1 Jan. 1823, when he was appointed commanding royal engineer in the West Indies, with headquarters at Barbados. With eleven different island colonies occupied by troops, he had only five officers of royal engineers under him, and was obliged to supplement his staff by making eleven officers of the line assistant engineers. A commission sent from England in 1823 to report on requirements in the West Indies recommended the addition of fourteen military engineers to the establishment to enable the work to be properly carried out. Smith was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel in the royal engineers on 29 July 1825, and to be colonel in the army on 22 July 1830. During the fourteen consecutive years which he passed in the West Indies he was acting governor of Trinidad in 1828, in 1830, and during the whole of 1831. In 1833 he was acting governor of Demerara and Berbice, and in 1834 of St. Lucia. He commanded the forces in the West Indies from June 1836 to February 1837. He was promoted to be colonel in the royal engineers on 10 Jan. 1837. He received the thanks of Lord Hill, the general commanding-in-chief, for his exercise of military command in the West Indies.
On 8 May 1837 Smith was appointed commanding royal engineer at Gibraltar, where in 1838 he was acting governor and commanded the forces. He returned to England in the summer of 1840 to go on particular service to Syria, for which duty he had been specially selected. He embarked in the Pique frigate on 9 Aug. 1840, arriving at Beyrout on 1 Sept. A landing was effected on the 10th, but Smith was too ill to take active command. He was invested, by imperial firman dated 30 Sept. 1840, with the command of the Sultan's army in Syria, and on 9 Oct. following was given by the British government the local rank of major-general in Syria in command of the allied land forces. After a bombardment Beyrout surrendered on 11 Oct. On 3 Nov. Smith took part in the attack on, and capture of, St. Jean d'Acre, where he was severely wounded. Upon him devolved the duty of repairing the injuries done to the fortifications by the British fire and of putting the place in a state of defence again, in addition to the adoption of measures for the temporary administration of the pashalic of Acre.
Smith returned to his command at Gibraltar in March 1841. For his services in Syria he received the thanks of both houses of parliament and also of the government, through Lord Palmerston; the sultan presented him with the Nishan Ichtatha and diamond medal and sword. He was granted one year's pay for his wound at St. Jean d'Acre. He was promoted to be major-general in the army on 23 Nov. 1841, returned home from Gibraltar on 15 May 1842, and was made a knight commander of the Bath (military division) on 27 Sept. 1843.
On 1 June 1847 Smith was granted the silver medal, then bestowed upon surviving officers of the wars from 1806 to 1814 for their services. He had also a clasp for Martinique, and received the naval medal for Syria. He was employed on special service as a major-general on the staff in Ireland during the disturbances of 1848. He was promoted to be lieutenant-general on 11 Nov. 1851, and colonel-commandant of the corps of royal engineers on 6 March 1856. He died at Worthing, Sussex, on 11 Aug. 1858. Smith married, first, in 1821, a daughter of Thomas Bell, esq., of Bristol (she died at their residence in Onslow Square, London, on 18 June 1849); and, secondly, in 1852, the eldest daughter of Thomas Croft, esq. There was no issue of either marriage.
[War Office Records; Despatches; Royal Engineers' Records; London Gazette; Napier's Hist. of the War in the Peninsula; Jones's Sieges in Spain; Porter's Hist. of the Corps of Royal Engineers; Conolly's Hist. of the Royal Sappers and Miners; Wrottesley's Life and Correspondence of Field Marshal John Burgoyne; Letters of Colonel Sir Augustus Simon Frazer during the Peninsular and Waterloo Campaigns; Sperling's Letters of an Officer of the Corps of Royal Engineers from the British Army in Holland, Belgium, and France, to his Father from 1813 to 1816; Gent. Mag. 1812, 1815, 1858; Ann. Reg. 1858; Proc. Royal United Service Institution, 1835; Reminiscences of Capt. Gronow, formerly of the Grenadier Guards, &c., related by Himself, 1862.]