Cecil Humphery-Smith


Cecil Raymond Julian Humphery-Smith, is a British genealogist and heraldist.

Early life

Cecil Humphery-Smith was born on 29 October 1928 to Frederick Humphery-Smith, of Burgess Hill, West Sussex, a company secretary appointed MBE in 1951 for his role as honorary secretary of the Burgess Hill Savings Committee, and his wife Agnes Violet. His godfather was the priest and headmaster Julian Bickersteth, who encouraged the development of the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies and in whose memory Humphery-Smith established a prize at the Institute. He was educated at Hurstpierpoint College and, after graduating from the University of London in 1950 with a BSc, undertook postgraduate studies in biochemistry and mycology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Parma-Piacenza Department of Agronomy.

Career

Following some years in Italy working with tomatoes for Heinz and other companies, it was Humphery-Smith who brought the concept of family history to the world of genealogy with his 1957 lecture "Introducing Family History." In 1961, he founded the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies in Canterbury and has edited its journal, FAMILY HISTORY since 1962. In 2008 Humphery-Smith was awarded an honorary Fellowship of Canterbury Christ Church University.
Humphery-Smith has been a lecturer at University of London and other institutions for much of his professional career. He also serves as a Fellow with the International Commission on Orders of Chivalry. He has long been the only British member of Council of L'Académie Internationale d'Héraldique and has received several other academic and literary honours and awards from around the world. In 2004, he was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for "Services to Education in Heraldry and Genealogy."
After being severely injured by a reversing vehicle in a car park in 2005, as of 2011 Humphery-Smith had given up lecturing, but continued to edit the Family History journal.

Personal life

In 1951, Humphery-Smith married Alice Elizabeth Gwendoline Cogle ; they have a son and five daughters.

Coats of Arms designed by Cecil Humphrey-Smith