Robert Smith (bishop)


Robert Smith was a prelate of the Episcopal Church who was the first Bishop of South Carolina between 1795 and 1801.

Early Life and Education

Smith was born on August 25, 1732 in Worstead, Norfolk, England to Stephen Smith and Hannah Press. He was educated at the Norwich Grammar School, before enrolling at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, from where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1753. He was awarded a Doctor of Divinity from the University of Pennsylvania in 1789.

Ordained Ministry

Smith was ordained deacon in the Church of England on March 7, 1756, and then priest on December 21, 1756, both by the Bishop of Ely Matthias Mawson. He then emigrated to the Province of South Carolina, where he became assistant minister of St Philip's Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 1757. In 1759 he became rector of the same church. He was also a supporter of the American Revolution. He fled from Charleston after in 1780 to the Province of Maryland after the former became occupied by the British. While there, he served as priest-in-charge of St Paul's Church in Brandywine, Maryland. In 1783, he returned to serve as rector of St Philip's Church in Charleston.

Bishop

On February 10, 1795, Smith was unanimously elected the first Bishop of South Carolina and was consecrated on September 13, 1795, the sixth bishop in the American Episcopal succession.
Smith was one of the prominent South Carolinians to sign the charter of the College of Charleston in 1785. Smith also served as the first president of the College between 1790 and 1797. He maintained his residence at 6 Glebe Street, in Charleston's Harleston Village neighborhood, between the house's construction in 1770 and his death in 1801. This house was constructed on the glebe of St. Philip's Episcopal Church as the parsonage house. Additionally, it served as the location of some of the College's first classes. The house is now a part of the College of Charleston, serving as its President's House, and is officially known as the Bishop Robert Smith House.

Consecrators