John Smith

Who was John Smith?

John Smith was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1806 to 1835 and a banker.

He was the sixth son of Abel Smith, a Nottingham banker who was a Member of Parliament for Aldborough, St Ives, and St Germans, and the brother of Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington. He lived at Blendon Hall in Kent and finally at Dale Park in Sussex. There is a fine memorial to him in Chichester Cathedral.

Smith was Tory Member of Parliament for Wendover from 1802 to 1806 and later represented Nottingham from 1806 to 1818, Midhurst from 1818 to 1830, Chichester from 1830 to 1831, and Buckinghamshire from 1831 to 1835. Between 1800 and 1831 when pocket boroughs were abolished 12 members of the Smith family sat for the Midhurst parliamentary seat alone. In 1806, Smith served as a Manager of the newly formed London Institution.

Smith married three times. By his second wife, Elizabeth Tucker, he had two sons, John Abel Smith, who succeeded him as MP for Midhurst, and Martin Tucker Smith, who became MP for Wycombe; and he had two daughters by his third wife, Emma Leigh.