Smythe, Emily Anne (c. 1845–1887)
Smythe, Emily Anne (c. 1845–1887)
English relief worker and author. Name variations: Viscountess Strangford. Born Emily Anne Beaufort around 1845; died at sea in 1887; daughter of Sir Francis Beaufort (1774–1857, a rear admiral and hydrographer); married Percy Ellen Frederick William Smythe, 8th viscount Strangford of Ireland, in 1862.
Active in relief work, Emily Anne Smythe was born Emily Anne Beaufort around 1845, the daughter of Sir Francis Beaufort, a rear admiral and hydrographer. In 1862, she married Percy Smythe, 8th viscount Strangford of Ireland. In 1875, she organized a fund for the relief of the Bulgarian peasants, and in 1877, during the war in Turkey, she established and supervised a hospital for Turkish soldiers. Her writings include Egyptian Sepulchres and Syrian Shrines (1861) and a work about the eastern shores of the Adriatic. As a descendent of the Beauforts of the Crusades, Smythe was the recipient of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which she received from the patriarch of Jerusalem. She died at sea in 1887.