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Biography:
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An expert in ancient languages, Sidney Smith was the epigraphist at Ur in the first excavation season, 1922-1923. After the death of Gertrude Bell in mid-1926, he served as Honorary Director of Antiquities in Iraq (actually, Richard Cooke held this position 1926-1928; Smith held it from 1928-1931). He was then appointed Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities at the British Museum and held the post from 1931-1948. He was also Professor of Semitic Languages and Civilizations at the University of London.
Leonard Woolley is said not to have gotten along with Sidney Smith very well. When Woolley was working on publications at the British Museum after Smith became Keeper, he worked in a room outside the department in order to avoid him.
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