Whilst cataloguing a donation, kept in our Bookplate Pamphlet Box (P097) we came across a lovely bookplate from the personal library of Hattie Smith Fisher Smith. We wanted to investigate the life of this Hattie Smith Fisher Smith, who was she and how did she relate to Halifax?
Early Life
Harriet Fisher was born 28th December 1857 Dedham, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. A short history of her early life was submitted to Malcolm Bulls Calderdale Companion by her descendant Charles Clay so we know that she preferred the name Hattie and was the daughter of Joe Fisher of West Dedham and Mary Elizabeth Campbell of Maine.
Whilst on the Grand Tour with her sister Elizabeth Campbell Fisher in Venice they met George Smith and Howard Clay, Gentlemen of Halifax Yorkshire. Hattie was married on 7th May 1890 to George Smith in Dedham, Massachusetts in Mrs Fishers home and her sister Elizabeth married Howard Clay shortly after. Hattie was Georges second wife (he had 7 children by his first wife Marie who died in 1885).
Hattie in Halifax
They moved back to Halifax, where her husband George had made his money from the family wire making business, Frederick Smith & Co. On their return, he moved into local politics as a Radical / Liberal, and became a Congregationalist Deacon at Park Congregational Church, Halifax. He was elected to the Halifax Town Council as a Liberal Councillor for Skircoat Ward in 1892. They both quickly gained a reputation for their charitable works.
Hattie and George had one child together, Emerson Lyman in 1894, who was later to become an actor, director and briefly ran a film studio.
Her work in Halifax
When her husband was Mayor of Halifax (1895-1897), Hattie was Mayoress. She was given a chain and diamond pendant which is still used by the Mayor’s consort today. During his time as Mayor, for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, they entertained both rich and poor on a generous scale with 400 guests to a garden party at their home Belle Vue and 800 poor people at the Drill Hall.
In the Halifax Guardian Almanac for 1897 they describe Hattie as allying herself with various movements for the alleviation of suffering, and for the benefit of the poorer classes. She was a member of the local branch of the British Women’s Temperance Association and one of the prime movers in the formation of the Halifax Women’s Liberal Association.
From 1894 Hattie was an active member on the Halifax Board of Guardians who administered the Union Workhouses, paid relief payments to applicants and had the responsibility of care for orphans and the mentally ill.
As Mayoress, Hattie Smith opened a Bazaar at Bethel Chapel, Ovenden in 1896. The Chairman remarked that Mrs Smith had already won golden opinions everywhere in the district of Halifax for her urbanity, kindly spirit, and the helping-hand she was always ready to give. In a speech that day, Hattie commented that she was a member of the Board of Guardians and that her husband had no idea, till she had been there, what an amount of work that body had to do. Sometimes she told him, with tears in her eyes, about that work, so distressing were some of the cases brought before their notice (04/04/1896 Halifax Courier).
In 1913, her husband was knighted and she became Lady Hattie Fisher-Smith. Hattie was said to be a formidable lady, and the driving force behind her husband’s knighthood. When he was knighted in 1913, he added his wife’s name to his own by deed poll, becoming Sir George Henry Fisher-Smith, saying that he wanted to honour his wife for her many public works.
The family lived first at Wellesley Mount, Halifax in 1881, Park House, Halifax in 1891, and finally at The Gleddings on Birdcage Lane from 1901.
World War 1
During World War 1 she was an active fundraiser for the war effort, regularly hosting events at their house, The Gleddings.
She organised Flag Days to raise money for wounded soldiers and sailors, parcels to be sent to the front and encouraged donations to various charities aiding the soldiers fighting.
In 1917 she organised a Women’s Day in Halifax to raise £500 for the erection of a Hut in the Harfleur Valley for the noble women who had left home and friends to help to win the war. The huts were a scheme provided by the YMCA who supported the women who provided auxiliary support during WW1.
Juvenile Courts in Halifax
In 1908 the Children Act established a separate juvenile court for the first time, dealing with both crime and welfare issues, abolished custody for children below 14, and required the police to provide remand homes. In Halifax, we had been holding court appearances for juveniles on a specific day of the week for a few years, but the act lead to specific ‘Juvenile Courts’ here too. The Courier began reporting on them from 1909. On 25th Aug 1920, Hattie Fisher Smith became a Justice of the Peace (JP). The first time she is reported as Presiding over the Juvenile Court is reported in the Courier in November 1920.
In 1921 she featured in the Halifax Guardian as a ‘Person of the Week’!
He husband, George Henry, died 19th March 1931. Despite this, she carried on with her charitable works from her home at The Gleddings.
Family Planning in Halifax
In the early 1930s, Hattie organised a Committee which put forward a proposal to start a family-planning clinic in Halifax. In 1930, there were just 20 family planning clinics across the UK, knowledge of contraception was limited to those who had money, and good information and open discussion about sexual health was practically non-existent. To counter this, the National Birth Control Council was formed in 1930 (the name changed to The Family Planning Association in 1939) “so that married people may space out/limit their families and thus mitigate the evils of ill health and poverty” (fpa.org.uk).
In January 1934 the Halifax Maternity and Child Welfare Committee was addressed by Mrs Freeth, organiser to the Nation Birth Control Association, on the subject of Birth Control. Soon after a report was written and a trial was allowed for 6 months to promote Birth Control in Halifax. On 10th October 1934, the Halifax Women’s Welfare Clinic opened at 32 Clare Road and Hattie Fisher Smith was instrumental in setting this up.
It provided Birth Control Advice (to married women only), and in March 1936 an article in the Halifax Courier (24/03/1936) showed the clinic was well attended with over 100 patients in the last year. It moved to 19 Savile Road and later to the Royal Halifax Infirmary.
Her Death
Lady Fisher-Smith remained at The Gleddings carrying out her charitable works until she died on 26th August 1938, aged 80. She was buried in her husband’s grave at Warley Town Cemetery.
The Halifax Courier reported how beloved she was and just what a turnout there was for her funeral, with 4 cars carrying 200 wreaths. A quote from Rev JG Jones quoted in the Halifax Courier (30/08/1938) reads:
“She contrived to throw herself heart and soul into those causes, religious and secular, which she believed she could help: peace, foreign missions, politics, social welfare, temperance, Halifax Guide Movement, juvenile problems – she was especially interested in the welfare of children. Wherever there was anything calculated to increase the amount of goodness and happiness in the lives of men women and children, Lady Fisher-Smith was ready to help”.
You may also be interested in reading about Miriam Lightowler who became a Justice of the Peace at the same time as Hattie. https://calderdalelocalstudies.wordpress.com/2024/01/09/miriam-lightowler-halifaxs-first-woman-councillor/
Calderdale Local Studies Library 