Walter Smith (WP) RIP

News has come from Walter Smith’s daughter, Barbara Johnson, that he died on 11th December, and that a memorial service is being organised, probably late January or early February.

Walter Smith joined what was then the Air Survey Company (a subsidiary of Fairey Aviation) as Chief Surveyor in 1950, and left as Managing Director in 1977 to take up a post with the United Nations for two years.  He was then appointed the first civilian Director General of the Ordnance Survey, a post he held until he retired in 1985.

Lawrence Scott remembers him with gratitude, as WP (as he was generally known in the company) recruited Lawrence in 1952 in Southern Rhodesia, when WP was Manager of the Air Survey Company of Rhodesia for three years, the subsidiary he set up in 1951.

A fairly detailed history of his life and career is on Wikipedia:

Walter Smith (land surveyor)

If we hear about the memorial date, it will be posted on the website, and we can pass on any messages to the family.

 

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