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Dear Ted, Rest in peace

We regret to announce the death of Ted Smith, President of Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. He died yesterday, Sunday 13 September, at Boston Hospital. His daughters Alison and Helen were with him. We offer our deepest sympathy to his family and to his friends and colleagues, he will be so greatly missed. Dear Ted, rest in peace.
Ted Smith (c) Sarah Pitt

Sarah Pitt

Dr Arthur Edward Smith CBE MA (always known as Ted) was born in August 1920 in Alford, Lincolnshire.  He came from a long line of rural craftsmen. Educated at the local grammar school in the 1930s, Ted began his working life as an English teacher.  After gaining a Masters degree in English at Leeds University and a spell teaching in the city and then Norfolk, Ted returned to Lincolnshire in 1948 as a resident tutor in adult education.

In the 1940s Ted Smith recognised the urgent need to save Lincolnshire’s most special places for nature.  In 1948 he was the founding Honorary Secretary of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and went on to be Chairman and then President.  He fought to save our unspoiled coast, ancient meadows and heaths and to halt the destruction of native woodland.  Ted campaigned on almost every front from saving roadside flowers from being sprayed with chemicals to pressing for legislation to protect otters.

This countryside of Britain may not be as rich as Ted knew it as a child in the 1920s and 30s but it is immeasurably better than it would otherwise have been without him

His influence extended far beyond Lincolnshire.  He travelled the length and breadth of Britain, lecturing on his vision for nature and for local Wildlife Trusts to champion it.  Most importantly, he saw the need for local nature organisations which could own land and for them to derive support from a wide section of the community.  He served as the first General Secretary of the Royal Society of Nature Conservation, and was also Chairman of the England Committee of the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England).  He was made an OBE for services to nature conservation in 1963, advanced to CBE in 1998, the year he also received an Honorary Doctorate of Science at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside (now University of Lincoln). He was the first recipient of the Christopher Cadbury Medal for services to nature conservation.

In 2010, Gibraltar Point was dedicated to Ted in celebration of his lifetime commitment to the reserve.  Established in 1949, Gibraltar Point was the first Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve.  It was a new kind of nature reserve that promoted nature conservation, survey and research, as well as public enjoyment and access.

In 2012 he was presented with The Wildlife Trusts' Centenary Award by Sir David Attenborough.  Talking about Ted Smith’s dedication and presenting the award in 2012, Sir David Attenborough commented on the profound impact that Ted had on the first 100 years of nature conservation:

"This countryside of Britain may not be as rich as Ted knew it as a child in the 1920s and 30s but it is immeasurably better than it would otherwise have been without him and The Wildlife Trusts.  Generations to come are going to benefit more than they will know."

Do, please, take the time to watch this 12 minute film to find out more about wildlife pioneer Ted Smith.