Michael Babington Smith

Brigadier Michael James Babington Smith (20 March 1901 – 26 October 1984), known in London as MJBS, was a British banker, sportsman and soldier from the Babington family. During the Second World War, he served under General Dwight D. Eisenhower as Director of Finance at SHAEF from 1943 to 1945. Following the war, he was a director of the Bank of England for two decades. He served as treasurer of the National Art Collections Fund and was twice High Sheriff of the County of London. Early life and education Babington Smith was born in Constantinople in 1901, the son of Sir Henry Babington Smith, a British civil servant who was serving on the council of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration, and later became a director of the Bank of England. His paternal grandfather was lawyer and mathematician Archibald Smith of Jordanhill and his brothers were MP James Parker Smith and curator Arthur Hamilton Smith, Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum His mother was Lady Elisabeth Bruce, daughter of the 9th Earl of Elgin, who was Viceroy of India from 1894 to 1899. Michael was the eldest of 10 children; one of his younger sisters was journalist Constance Babington Smith MBE (1911–2000). Another sister, Lucy, married Henry Sinclair, 2nd Baron Pentland. His brother Bernard Babington Smith OBE (1905–1993) was an academic, wartime intelligence officer and amateur athlete. Michael attended Eton College, where he had a successful cricket career, followed by Trinity College, Cambridge. He was active in various other sports throughout his life, including shooting, stalking and fencing. He was a five-time finalist in the British foil championships and was captain of the England fencing team in 1931. Career