The Right Reverend George Smith
施美夫會督（宋美）
(1815–1871)
The First Warden of St. Paul’s College
聖保羅書院首任監院
George Smith was the first Bishop of Victoria (1849–65) and the first warden of St. Paul’s College ex officio.
Smith prominently advocated the church’s expansion in East Asia. From 1844 to 1846, he surveyed China’s treaty ports as part of his mission. Shortly following his consecration in 1849, Smith set sail for Hong Kong, letters patent and the statutes for St. Paul’s College in hand.
The diocese initially covered all Chinese and Japanese treaty ports. This meant Smith spent most of his tenure outside Hong Kong, helping the Church Missionary Society build local missions.
As for the Anglo-Chinese school Stanton built, it was already decided in 1849 that it would become known as ‘St. Paul’s College’. Smith worked to expand the campus soon after arriving in 1850, with the school reopening under its current name on 5 September 1851.
Between the 1840s and the 1860s, Hong Kong was marked by a laissez-faire educational policy, with the government working closely with, but not directly intervening in, educational organisations. As such, Smith’s direction for St. Paul’s balanced the church’s goal of training native clergymen with the government’s goal of providing interpreters; to this end, Smith sought tutors — missionaries and laymen alike — who steered the College toward stable growth. In turn, Smith and St. Paul’s College helped shape the early direction of what would become the Education Department by giving advice and ideas.
Education aside, life in Hong Kong remained physically taxing, and Smith resigned in 1865. Our College’s inter-class basketball competition is named the Smith Cup in his memory.