Samuel Smiles

Samuel Smiles (December 23, 1812 – April 16, 1904), was a Scottish author and reformer.

The reliability of Smiles's work

Jarvis discusses this exhaustively in his book, and it is clear that Smiles must never be taken as the last word on the lives of Victorian engineers. Aside from the accuracy of his statements (it is known, for example, that he was prone to making selective quotations from documents to show his subjects in the best light), there is the balance of his coverage. He tended to concentrate on Civil Engineering, to the detriment of mechanical engineering and invention. Present-day researchers, who seem to only use Smiles and few other sources uncritically, thus get a lop-sided view of what industrialisation during the Industrial Revolution and the Victorian era in Britain was about.

Related Topics:
Civil Engineering - Mechanical engineering - Invention - Industrialisation - Industrial Revolution

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