William Smith (antiquary)

William Smith, The Annals of University College (1728).

William Smith, Litteræ de Re Nummaria (1729)

William Smith's two published works, both composed near the end of his life.

Reverend William Smith (c. 1653 – December 1735) was an English antiquary responsible for the cataloguing of the archives of University College, Oxford, and composing an original and controversial history of the college, The Annals of University College. Smith was a Fellow of Oxford University, from 1675 to 1704, and then the rector of Melsonby, from 1704 to 1735.

Born in Easby, Richmondshire, Smith attended University College, Oxford from 1668 to 1678, gaining a BA and MA. Soon after elected a fellow of the college, Smith set about organizing, cataloguing and transcribing the contents of the college archives, creating archival resources still in use today. After a scandalous marriage as a fellow, Smith moved the college to purchase the living of Melsonby, and was appointed to its rectorship in 1704. There he lived for the rest of his life, corresponding with antiquaries and keeping abreast of the politics of University College.

In one controversy a Master of the college rested his legitimacy on an apocryphal claim that King Alfred had founded University College. This inflamed Smith sufficiently that he set about writing a history of the college refuting these medieval claims, much to the chagrin of those who were personally invested in the myths. The resultant work, The Annals of University College (1728), has been called by scholars both "maddening" and "chaotic", but also "the first scholarly history [...] of any Oxford or Cambridge college" and a "most honest and accurate" work. Smith composed one more book, in 1729, on the composition of the Roman denarii and embarked on several constructions in Easby, before dying in Melsonby in December 1735.