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Michael Holroyd Smith

British engineer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ19043395
Source-derived summary

Michael Holroyd Smith (1847–1932) was an English pioneer of electrical and motor car engineering. He was born in Halifax on 22 December 1847, the son of Matthew Smith and his wife Mary Sutcliffe. Over his life he worked on various projects as a consulting engineer. In 1885 he was responsible for the design and construction of the Blackpool Electric Tramway, a line in Blackpool that was Britain's first electric tramway and survives to this day, albeit in a rather different form. Between 1886 and 1890, he was responsible for the electrification of the City and South London Railway, the first deep-level tube railway in London. In the 1890s, he built at least two motor cars of his own design, though these do not appear to have gone into production. He died at his home in Llanrwst, Denbighshire on 6 July 1932.

Michael Holroyd Smith was a member of both the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Michael Holroyd Smith” as british engineer. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1847, 1932, 1885, 1886—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1847-12-22. The account is most persuasive where Michael, Holroyd and Smith can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as british engineer. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19043395. VIAF identifies the subject as 259218803. The Library of Congress control number is n2012042424. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1847, 1932, 1885 and 1886.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Michael Holroyd Smith”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Michael Holroyd Smith primary sources, Michael Holroyd Smith archive and Michael research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Michael Holroyd Smith”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Michael Holroyd Smith” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.