George Smith (publisher, born 1824)

[4] Smith succeeded his father on the latter's death and expanded the product and sales areas to cover most Victorian topics and the British Empire.

By Smith, Elder & Co. were issued works by Darwin, Ruskin, Thackeray, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Wilkie Collins, Matthew Arnold, Harriet Martineau, James Payn and Mrs Humphry Ward.

[4] One of Smith's most ambitious projects was the Dictionary of National Biography, which covered notable British figures up to its day in 63 volumes published from 1885 to 1900.

George Smith is widely acknowledged to have inspired the character of Graham Bretton in Charlotte Brontë's novel Villette (as he himself believed).

Smith was a wealthy man, not only from his publishing business, but on account of his large ownership in the mineral water Apollinaris and other ventures.