IRISH LIVES:WILLIAM HOLMES SMILES (1846-1904), businessman, was born on January 26th, 1846, in Woodhouse, Yorkshire, England, elder of two sons of Samuel Smiles (1812-1904), doctor, and Mary Ann Smiles (née Holmes); he had one older and two younger sisters. His father was later a railway executive and became famous as the author of Self-help (1859) and many other books extolling the virtues of hard work and education. William was educated at King's College school in London, and was sent in 1868 to Belfast as the representative of a London tea merchant.

In 1873 he went into the rope-making business with Samuel Wilson. Belfast’s linen and shipbuilding industries, then in their heyday, provided engineering skills, a huge market and, thanks largely to Smiles’s lifelong friendship with Gustav Wolff of Harland and Wolff, capital for investment, as well as lucrative contacts at shipping companies worldwide. Wilson left after disagreements, and Smiles was managing director of the business from its incorporation, in 1876, until his death, in 1904. After early difficulties the business flourished, expanding from 100 employees in the 1870s to 3,000 in 1904. The rope works spread over more than 15 hectares in east Belfast, and at the beginning of the 20th century was probably the largest in the world, with a huge product range exported to many countries. Overwork may have contributed to his death on January 9th, 1904; his daughter Aileen Smiles, who wrote an entertaining study of her grandfather and his family, said her father was worn out by “rope and children”.

William Smiles was a founder member of Royal Portrush and Royal County Down golf clubs, and died suddenly in the clubhouse at Newcastle, Co Down. He married (1874) Lucy Dorling, sister of the famous Isabella Beeton, expert on cookery and domestic economy; they had eight sons and three daughters. Two sons died in the first World War.

From the Royal Irish Academy's Dictionary of Irish Biography, dib.ie