My friend Iain Smith, who has died of a stroke aged 82, was a historian specialising in British colonial history who spent 37 years at the University of Warwick. He combined liberal broad-mindedness and boundless curiosity with an active spirit.
Iain was born in Hull to Alexander Smith, a dentist, and his wife, Amy (nee Cheetham). Attending Bootham school, York, he took on board and retained its Quaker values of service for the rest of his life. He served on the board of governors of another Quaker school, Leighton Park, Reading, for many years.
He studied history at Edinburgh University, graduating in 1962, then went to Kenya to teach at a Quaker school for 18 months. After a Fulbright scholarship in Wisconsin, he returned to the UK to take a doctorate at Oxford University, finishing in 1969, and then joined the history department at Warwick University, where – interrupted only to run the Vienna Quaker Centre for a year in the 1970s – he remained until retirement.
One of Iain’s popular courses was on the history of South Africa from 1885 to 1910. He also wrote a book on the subject, The Origins of the South African War, 1899-1902 (1996), which was praised for objectivity by both English- and Afrikaans-speaking scholars. Other publications included a monograph on Henry Morton Stanley’s last venture, The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, 1886-1890 (1972), and, in two volumes The Siege of Mafeking (2001). From 1980 to 1995 he was on the council of the Historical Association.
One of Iain’s last projects (2003-2007), together with South African historians and funded by the Wellcome Trust, was to create a database for future research on disease and mortality in concentration camps in the South African War.
Over the course of his academic career he carried out a wide range of visiting lectureships or fellowships, in Cape Town, Pretoria, Helsinki, Tbilisi (Georgia), Mansfield College, Oxford, and (for the British Council) China. He retired in 2006 as emeritus reader.
Iain was warm and enthusiastic and had the ability to state his views plainly without arousing rancour, a rare gift. He was also an outstanding teacher whose concern for his own students often extended well after their time at Warwick.
In 1968 Iain married Teresa Halikowska, a Polish student of English whom he met at Oxford. Together they made their home in Leamington Spa a haven for lovers of literature, music and discussion. A music lover, he became chair of the Leamington Music Society. He was also a keen gardener and a lively participant in the weekly meetings of the Solihull Poetry Society. He continued well into retirement to write academic reviews.
Teresa died last year. He is survived by their children, Stefan, Milena and Adrian.
