Career
He is best known for his large private collection of mammals, birds, and insects kept at his stately home of Ashton Court in Bristol. John Henry Greville Smyth was born in Bath on January 2, 1836, the second son of Thomas Upton Esq. By the time he was 27, the estate provided him £27,087 per year.
He used this sizable income to fund tours across the British Empire and beyond (India, Egypt, Algeria, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, South America, the United State of America, as well as extensive travel across Europe), where he hunted mammals and birds, and collected a vast number of birds" eggs.
Greville Smith had built up such a large collection of specimens that in 1884 he commissioned the architect Charles Edward Davis to create a museum in his home. The museum, along with other alterations, were completed 18 months later in 1885.
He died in 1901, and Emily died in 1914.