Early Life
Smith was born in Consett in County Durham and educated at the Wesleyan Church School in Newcastle upon Tyne. Following that, he worked at the office of the Government solicitors.
He came to New Zealand in 1879. He was a lawyer and businessman in Christchurch. He was a councillor on the Sydenham Borough Council. A strong prohibitionist, Smith was elected to the Sydenham Licensing Committee in 1891, which was determined to refuse all licenses in the borough. Several members including Smith were removed from this position by order of the Supreme Court for "incurable bias".
Read more about this topic: George John Smith
Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)