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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Taranaki, Hawke's Bay & Wellington Provincial Districts]
Mr. Frederick George Smith
Mr. Frederick George Smith, who was a member of the Napier Borough Council for many years, is a well-known shipping and forwarding agent. He was born in 1850, in Hayle, Cornwall, England, and is a son of Mr. John Pearce Smith, cooper and woodware manufacturer. He was educated at the Hayle Grammar School, and subsequently was apprenticed to the sea with the West of England Company. After attaining the rank of second mate, during a period of nine years, in the Valparaiso, Indian, and China trade, Mr. Smith gave up seafaring life, and embraced an opportunity of coming to New Zealand. Settling in Napier in 1875, he obtained employment in the establishment of Messrs Margoliouth and Banner, grocers and wine and spirit merchants, and remained with that firm seven years, having charge of the Spit branch and wool dumping works. Mr. Smith then entered into business on page 315 his own account, which he has since successfully conducted. He has been a volunteer for over twenty years, and was in command of the Napier Naval Artillery from 1885 until 1897, when the corps was disbanded, and he was placed on the reserve staff with the rank of captain. Mr. Smith is a Past Worshipful Master Mason, and took his Mark and Royal Arch degrees while on a visit to the Old Country in 1892. In 1879 he married a daughter of Mr. Edward Newbigin, of Ryton, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and has four daughters and two sons.