Thomas Smith

Who was Thomas Smith?

Thomas Smith was an English Roman Catholic bishop who served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District from 1821 to 1831.

He was born on 21 March 1763, the son of James Smith of the Brooms, near Lanchester, County Durham. Thomas was ordained to the priesthood in 1788 by Louis-François-Marc Hilaire de Conzié, Bishop of Arras. He was appointed coadjutor to William Gibson, Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District, the Briefs for the coadjutorship and Titular See of Bolina were dated on 15 May 1807. However, the mandate for his consecration was lost in transmission to England, and a fresh mandate was applied for in July 1808. He was consecrated Titular Bishop of Bolina at St. Edmund's College, Ware by Bishop William Poynter on 10 March 1810, attended by bishops Gibson and Collingridge as co-consecrators. On the death of Bishop Gibson on 2 June 1821, Bishop Smith automatically succeeded as Vicar Apostolic of the Northern District.