Peter Jefferson Smith was born in 1939 in Ely, Cambridgeshire. On completing his degree in history at Trinity College Cambridge, he came to live in Clapham, where he remained for the rest of his life. He joined the Civil Service and spent almost all of his career in what was then H M Customs and Excise, retiring in 1995 after seven years as Deputy Chairman. Much of Peter s spare time was devoted to historical research but he was also heavily involved in many aspects of community life. In the 1970s he played a key role in the successful opposition to Lambeth Council s plans to demolish and redevelop significant areas of local housing; he was instrumental in setting up the Southeast London Community Foundation and subsequently Chair of its Trustees; as a keen bell ringer he initiated the restoration and augmentation of the bells of Holy Trinity Church Clapham. Unsurprisingly, he was a lynch pin in the Clapham Society for over half a century. Peter died in December 2018 and is survived by his wife, Anna, and daughters, Bea and Mary.