Abel Smith

Who was Abel Smith?

Abel Smith was a longtime British Member of Parliament.

He was the eighth child but eldest son of Samuel Smith, also a Member of Parliament, and nephew of Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington. The family had grown wealthy through banking in Nottingham.

Abel Smith entered Parliament in 1810 as member for Malmesbury, and subsequently also represented Wendover and Midhurst, both pocket boroughs controlled by his uncle Lord Carrington, sitting in the Commons for 20 of the last 22 years before the Great Reform Act. He and his father were Wendover's last MPs, as they sat together as its members for the last two years before the borough's abolition.

Three years after the Reform Act, he was elected for Hertfordshire, and served another twelve years as its MP. He was High Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1849.

Smith married Frances Anne Calvert, the daughter of General Sir Harry Calvert. Their son Abel Smith also became MP for Hertfordshire.