Introduction

Biography

George was the son of gar­den­er and nur­ser­y­man Wil­liam Smith.

He started out as a cob­bler, but joined the Sal­va­tion Army (SA) around 1879, pos­si­bly in Kings­wood, Bristol, Eng­land.

After an SA brass band formed in 1881, he was band­mas­ter for sev­er­al years. Sev­er­al of his songs ap­peared in the SA’s Mus­ical Sal­va­tionist.

In 1897, he be­came an itin­er­ant Me­tho­dist preach­er, and served as a Sun­day school su­per­in­ten­dent and teach­er.