Abel Smith

Who was Abel Smith?

Abel Smith was a British Member of Parliament and one of the leading bankers of his time.

Abel Smith was the grandson of Thomas Smith, the founder of the Nottingham Smith's Bank and the outstanding figure in its history. Abel Smith had been apprenticed at the age of 15 to the Hull merchant adventurer William Wilberforce, becoming a partner in Wilberforce and Smith and eventually running it, while at the same time continuing an involvement with the Nottingham Bank. On the death of his father, Abel senior, he succeeded to the Nottingham partnership with his brother George before assuming sole control the following year. In 1758, Abel founded a bank in London, Smith & Payne, and two other provincial banks—at Lincoln in 1775 and Hull in 1784, both separately constituted.

He entered Parliament as member for Aldborough in 1774, and later also represented St Ives and St Germans. These were all pocket boroughs, and Smith may well have had to pay considerable sums to the proprietors to secure his seats; later a proportion of the family wealth was devoted to buying the Smiths a couple of pocket boroughs of their own, and by the early 19th century his son, Lord Carrington, could nominate the MPs at both Midhurst and Wendover.