Horace Smith

Born in 1836, Horace Smith was an English writer whose surviving bibliography shows an unusually wide range. Library records link him to poetry collections such as Poems and Collected Poems, lighter mixed volumes in the Interludes series, and devotional work including Hymns and Psalms.

He also wrote and edited substantial legal books, among them A Manual of the Law of Landlord and Tenant, editions of Addison on Contracts and Addison on Torts, and other works on criminal law and evidence. That mix of subjects gives the impression of a disciplined professional writer who could turn from verse to law without losing his voice.

Some sources identify him as a Metropolitan Police Magistrate, which fits the practical cast of his legal publications, though the clearest evidence available here is his published work rather than a full biographical record. He died in 1922, leaving behind books that place him in the long tradition of late 19th- and early 20th-century English authors who wrote for both general readers and working professionals.