• Name: Smith, George
• Gender: Male

The question of Smith is very difficult. There are - unsurprisingly - a very large number of Smiths noted in the diary, perhaps 40-50 all told. Most appear quite infrequently but it is difficult to extricate the noteworthy from the inconsequential. The two Smiths of most note, who appear almost 300 times, remain mysterious. The first Smith appears 1793-1797 and can be tenuously identified as George Smith; the second Smith from 1801 onwards and is unidentified.

George Smith appears in September 1793 and appears to be immediately on intimate terms with Godwin, meeting him by himself for breakfast and engaging him in topics of conversation associated with Political Justice. These breakfast meetings occur on a regular weekly basis every Sunday until the end of the year and through 1794-95. Smith first appears with Joseph Gerrald but he generally appears on his own. Regular contact ceases in November 1795.

Given the intimacy of the relationship and the topics of conversation, it is possible that Smith is George Smith, who attended Hoxton with him:
Minutes of the Coward Trust 16 May 1738 - 30 November 1778, p. 227
Meeting of the Trustees, 28 September 1773
The following young persons concerning whose Serious Disposition and Proficiency in Grammar learning the Trustees have received Satisfaction were admitted Divinity Students namely Nathaniel Philips George Smith James Marshall Willm Godwin students at the Academy at Hoxton.

The second Smith appears in 1801 and his encounters with Godwin are frequent until the end of 1804. Smiths which appear after this date are also considered to be the same person; however, it is possible if not likely that some of these instances are not the same individual. We have, nonetheless, no great reason to exclude them. This Smith is almost certainly a different person from the Smith (ie George) of the 1790s. He is much more sociable, attending the theatre with Godwin on a regular basis, dining frequently (as opposed to breakfasting) and appearing with other individuals such as Fell, Marshall , James Wolstonecraft and Holcroft. Their intimate acquaintance ends with an exchange of letters in March 1804.

Some Smiths who appear after 1804 have been excluded from this second Smith, such as the plural Smiths (which may refer to the Smith brothers(?), Arthur, James, and Peter) or those Smiths encountered outside London.

• Minutes of the Coward Trust 16 May 1738 - 30 November 1778.

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.