Research in North Staffordshire led us to believe that Smith’s parents, John George Child and Elizabeth Child (nee Parsons), were married in 1806 at St. Margaret’s Church, Wolstanton.
Recent research into Elizabeth’s life shows that the couple were married in the United States of America.
Elizabeth was born in Wiscasset, Lincoln County, Maine, in 1780.
American records* show that John and Elizabeth were married in Wiscasset, where John was living at the time, by the Rev Hezekiah Packard on 15 May 1806.
In 1876, Calver House and its grounds in Roundwell Street, Tunstall, were converted into a non-political and inter-denominational workingmen’s club.
The idea of using the house and its grounds to give Tunstall a workingmen’s club came from Sir Smith Child, who gave £100 towards the cost of conversion.
Inside the clubhouse, there were rooms for conversation, smoking, and playing games, including bagatelle, draughts, and chess. It contained reading rooms where members could read books and newspapers, a lecture theatre and a bar that sold alcoholic drinks.
The management committee intended to open a lending library, enabling members to borrow books and planned to create a recreation ground and build a gymnasium.
Membership of the club costs 2d per week, 6d a month or 1s 3d a quarter.
Smith opened the club on 14 July 1876. The opening ceremony was preceded by a parade led by the Tunstall Volunteer Band from the town hall along High Street to Calver House. During the ceremony, Smith said he was always happy to support any project that benefited Tunstall and its citizens. He believed the club could become the second home for many young working men who had only a bedroom in the house they lived in, that they could call their own.
Who was Sir Smith Child? Why was a clock tower erected in Tunstall’s Tower Square to commemorate the financial help he gave to local charities? There are very few people living in Tunstall today who can answer these questions.
‘Tunstall will miss a Grand Old Man’
No one alive now can remember that, after he died in 1896, local children stood in front of the clock tower and sang in tune with the clock’s Cambridge Chimes, ‘Now Old Smith Child is dead and gone, Tunstall will miss a grand old man.’
A Quiet, Unassuming Man
Freemasons must wonder why there is a local Masonic Lodge named after him. Smith was not a Freemason. He was a quiet, unassuming man who used his vast wealth to help alleviate poverty and suffering.
Although he left Tunstall in 1841, Smith never forgot the town and always called its citizens his friends and neighbours. Smith retained close links with Tunstall and Goldenhill. He gave money to help build churches, support schools and create medical and welfare services.
A Devout Christian
Smith was a devout Christian. He worshipped at Christ Church while living in Tunstall and at St Nicholas’ Church, Fulford, when he lived at Stallington Hall.
Smith had a stroke that paralysed his left side. He was too ill to travel to Tunstall and lay the museum’s foundation stone.
The speech he had intended to make at the ceremony was read for him. In the speech, he said his philosophy of life was based on a firm belief in practical Christianity.
St Paul’s Teaching
Smith had been influenced by St Paul’s teaching. He believed everyone was a member of Christ’s family, and it was their duty to use the gifts God gave them to help others. They were all part of one body – the body of Christ – no one could stand alone. People needed each other. He quoted from St Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians, ‘The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee; nor the head to the feet, I have no need of you.’
Smith hoped this Fundamental Truth would always prevail in Tunstall and that the museum would be dedicated in spirit to that Christian Grace of which St Paul said, ‘And now abideth Faith, Hope and Love, these three, but the greatest of these is Love.’
Smith’s health continued to deteriorate. He died at Stallington Hall on 27 March 1896 and was buried in St. Nicholas’ Churchyard, Fulford.
Mercian Heritage Research 