GOOD SMITH BIOGRAPHY, BUT ONE SLOPPY ERROR

Richard Ebeling, a professor of economics at Northwood University in Midland, Michigan. writes: HERE 

“He was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland on June 5, 1723 and he died on July 17, 1790, at the age of 67. His father died two months after he was born, and was raised by his mother, with whom he remained close throughout her life.”

COMMENT

In this long but informative article, Richard Ebeling makes some very good pointers for those less acquainted with the details of Adam Smith’s life or with his large intellectual contributions to knowledge. I recommend that readers follow the link and enjoy a tour round Smith’s Ouvre (part 1 - part 2 is to follow later).

I cannot help correcting the biographical error in bold above:

‘His father died two months after he was born.’

The biographical facts are quite different. His father, Adam Smith, died on 9th January 1723. Young Adam Smith was born on 23 June, 1723 (assuming the date of his baptism was the same date as his birth, as was the custome with sickly new borns).. Therefore, his father unfortunately died when young Adam’s mother was three months into her pregnancy, not ‘two months after his son was born’.

See Adam Smith’s most authoritative biographer, by Ian Simpson Ross: The Life of Adam Smith, 2nd edition, 2010 p. 2, Oxford University Press