Abel Henry Smith

Who was Abel Henry Smith?

Colonel Abel Henry Smith was a British Conservative Party politician and an English landowner of the Smith banking family.

Smith was the son of Abel Smith, from whom he inherited the large estate of Woodhall Park, near Watton-at-Stone in Hertfordshire. Over a dozen of his ancestors had sat in the House of Commons over the preceding century.

At the 1892 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Christchurch. He was re-elected in 1895, but at the 1900 general election he stood instead in the Hertford constituency which had been represented by his father until his death in 1898. He won the 1900 election, and held the seat until he stood down at the general election in January 1910. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Hertfordshire in August 1910.

After his death in 1930, the contents of the family's stately home were dispersed, and the building rented out.