Steam Hammer forging at the Atlas Works by Theophilus Smith. Source: Picture Sheffield.
Theophilus Smith was the son of Edwin Smith, sculptor, of the Sheffield Marble and Stone Works on Cemetery Road. He worked with his father at the Stone Works, was a talented sculptor, and both father and son were associated with the Cemetery but not buried in it.
Theophilus Smith’s interest in photography began in 1859 and by 1862 he had furnished a studio on Cemetery Road. He took photographs of many local dignitaries including the Mayor and the Vicar of Sheffield, produced a photographic travel book to encourage people to visit local beauty spots and saw the potential of photography for reportage when he visited the scene of the Sheffield Flood. He was a pioneer of industrial photography taking photographs of the giant steel works of the Don Valley; his image of John Brown’s Atlas works is believed to be the first image taken inside a Sheffield steel works.
Smith’s photographic career ended abruptly in June 1867 when a waggonette in which he was travelling collided with a passing omnibus. Though seemingly not badly injured at the time, his condition worsened over time such that he was unable to work, and in the spring of 1870, he auctioned off all his photographic equipment and abandoned photography.
By 1881 and living in Rotherham, Theophilus Smith was drinking heavily and bound over to keep the peace due to his behaviour towards his wife Louisa. The couple lost two children that summer and in September, Smith was charged with aggravated assault on his wife and daughter. A judicial separation was agreed by the court, but Smith did not long survive the breakdown of his marriage, dying on 4 June 1882. Theophilus Smith’s mother Mary was buried in the Nonconformist area of the Cemetery in plot Y 105.
You can read more about the photographers in the Cemetery in the Sheffield General Cemetery Trust’s publication Beyond the Lens.