John Chaloner Smith (19 August 1827 – 13 March 1895) was an Irish civil engineer and writer on British mezzotints.
He was born in Dublin. His father was a proctor of the ecclesiastical courts, and married a granddaughter of Travers Hartley, M.P. for Dublin in the Irish parliament. Chaloner Smith was admitted to Trinity College, Dublin, in 1846, and in 1849 graduated B.A. He was articled to George Willoughby Hemans the engineer, and in 1857 was appointed engineer to the Waterford and Limerick Railway. In 1868 he took a similar position in the Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway, and held it till 1894. He carried out some major extensions of the line, and was mainly responsible for the Loopline Bridge crossing the River Liffey, connecting the Great Northern and South-Eastern railways of Ireland.
He died at Bray, County Wicklow.
His British Mezzotinto Portraits … with Biographical Notes (London, 1878–84, 4 pts.) consists of a full catalogue of plates executed before 1820, with 125 autotypes from plates in Smith's possession. The latter were also issued separately. The print-room at the British Museum contains an interleaved copy with manuscript notes. Smith was a collector of engravings, principally mezzotints, which were sold after the completion of his book. Some of them, especially those by Irish engravers, were purchased for the Dublin National Gallery through Sir Edward Guinness.
Chaloner Smith took an interest in the financial relations between England and Ireland, and published pamphlets on the subject. Just before his death he was examined before the Royal Commission which was appointed to consider the question.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Smith, John Chaloner". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.