James Smithson

 

Per Orbem

 

- James Smithson -FRS-

Founder of the Smithsonian

Institution - Washington

-

Erected by the Regents

of the Institution 1896

This 1900 Carrara marble plaque replaced the 1896 original at Smithson's grave in Genoa, Italy, designed by William Ordway Partridge. It was moved to the crypt in the Smithsonian castle in 1904 along with Smithson's sarcophagus and his remains.

"James Smithson, MA, FRS (c. 1765 – 27 June 1829) was an English chemist and mineralogist. He was the founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithson was the illegitimate child of the 1st Duke of Northumberland, and was born secretly in Paris, on an unknown date, possibly in the Pentemont Abbey, as Jacques-Louis Macie (later altered to James Louis). Eventually, he was naturalized in England and attended university, studying chemistry and mineralogy at Pembroke College, Oxford. At the age of twenty-two, he changed his surname from Macie to Smithson, his father's pre-marriage surname. Smithson traveled extensively throughout Europe publishing papers about his findings. Considered a talented amateur in his field, Smithson maintained an inheritance he acquired from his mother and other relatives.

Smithson was never married and had no children; therefore, when he wrote his will, he left his estate to his nephew, or his nephew's family if his nephew died before Smithson. If his nephew was to die without heirs, however, Smithson's will stipulated that his estate be donated to the founding of an educational institution in Washington, D.C., in the United States. In 1835, his nephew died and so could not claim to be the recipient of his estate; therefore, Smithson became the founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. despite having never visited the United States." -- Wikipedia

The inscription on the front of Smithson's tomb gets his age wrong he was 64 at time of his death.

  Sacred

to the

memory

of

James Smithson Esq.

 Fellow of the Royal Society,

 London,

 who died at Genoa

 the 26th June 1829

aged 75 years.

This engraving (From Rhees, 1880) of the Smithson's Tomb in Genoa, shows the rear inscription.

This monument is erected

and the ground on which

it stands is purchased in perpetuity

by Henry Hungerford. Esq.,

the deceased’s nephew,

in token of gratitude

to a generous benefactor

and as a tribute to departed worth.

This plaque attached below the sarcophagus marks Smithson's re-interment in Washington.

 James Smithson 

Founder of the Smithsonian Institution

Who died at Genoa Italy June 26 1829

These remains were brought to 

The United States in 1904 for Reinterment

In the care of the Institution he founded.

"Large central medallions, comprised of a moth inside a laurel wreath, decorated with laurel branches and festooned with ribbon, are carved into the front and back of the marker. Moths, having 'died' as caterpillars, represent new life after death. In classical times, the long-lasting laurel leaf fashioned into a wreath signified achievement, victory, and eternity while laurel branches with foliage generally represent the Tree of Life." -- Smithsonian