Who is George Saintsbury and Robert Smillie from The Road to Wigan Pier and what is their importance?

George Saintsbury (1845 - 1933) was an English writer; Orwell refers to him as Professor Saintsbury, in reference to his position as professor of rhetoric and English literature at the University of Edinburgh. Orwell refers to Sainsbury throughout portions of Chapter 8, noting that Saintsbury's outspoken class prejudice, which he finds offensive, is nevertheless typical of what most middle- and upper-class people think about the working-class.