Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Aitchison Smith
CIE (12 September 1871 – 26 January 1940) was a
British Army and
Indian Army officer and administrator in
India.
Smith was born in
Leith, the son of
George Smith, a well-known writer on India. His brothers were
Sir George Adam Smith and
Sir James Dunlop Smith. His sister was the mother of the politician
Rab Butler. Smith was educated at the
Royal High School, Edinburgh, the
University of Edinburgh, and the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
Smith was commissioned into the
Essex Regiment in November 1891 and was posted to the 2nd Battalion, serving in
Cyprus and then India, where he transferred to the
Indian Staff Corps in January 1896 and served in the
Tirah Campaign of 1897. He was promoted
Captain in October 1901. He joined the
Indian Political Department in 1902 and served in the remote areas of
Gilgit,
Chilas,
Chitral, and the
Tochi, all in the
Himalayas. He was promoted
Major in November 1909.
In the
First World War, he served with the
Indian Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders with
Hodson's Horse, fighting at
Mons. He later transferred to
Fane's Horse, and also served as an intelligence officer.
Returning to India in 1917, he served as Political Officer at Gilgit until 1920, although also serving in the
Third Afghan War in 1919. He was then appointed Political Agent at
Quetta until his retirement in 1923.
Returning to the
United Kingdom, he was appointed publicity secretary of the Public Schools Cadet Association in 1926 and secretary of the British National Cadet Association in 1931, holding both posts until his death.
He was appointed
Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the 1920 New Year Honours.[1