Sir Andrew Smith KCB (December 3, 1797 – August 12, 1872) was a Scottish surgeon, naturalist, explorer and zoologist.
Smith was born in Hawick, Roxburghshire. He obtained a good education by diligence and hard work and qualified in medicine at Edinburgh University obtaining an M.D. degree in 1819, having joined the Army Medical Services in 1816.
In 1820 he was ordered to the Cape Colony and was sent to Grahamstown to supervise the medical care of...
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Sir Andrew Smith KCB (December 3, 1797 – August 12, 1872) was a Scottish surgeon, naturalist, explorer and zoologist.
Smith was born in Hawick, Roxburghshire. He obtained a good education by diligence and hard work and qualified in medicine at Edinburgh University obtaining an M.D. degree in 1819, having joined the Army Medical Services in 1816.
In 1820 he was ordered to the Cape Colony and was sent to Grahamstown to supervise the medical care of European soldiers and soldiers of the Cape Corps. He was appointed the Albany district surgeon in 1822 and started the first free dispensary for indigent patients in South Africa. He led a scientific expedition into the interior and was able to indulge in his interests of natural history and anthropology. On several occasions he was sent by governors on confidential missions to visit Bantu tribes beyond the frontier, such as his trip to Kaffraria in 1824 when he made copious notes on the customs of the Xhosa tribes. In 1825 the Governor of...
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