Family and Education

?s. of Thomas Smith of Abingdon by Joan Jennings; bro. of Thomas. educ. ?Christ Church, Oxf. 1572, BA 1576, MA 1578.

Offices Held

Biography

Seven Richard Smiths appear in the Wiltshire taxation lists of 1576, none of sufficient standing to have been the 1584 Cricklade MP. It is also unlikely that the Cricklade Member was Richard Smythe, the customer’s son, for he had no known connexion with the Brydges family, the patrons at Cricklade. A better guess—and the one made here—might be Richard Smith of Abingdon, some 25 miles from Cricklade, the brother of the 1589 Member, Thomas Smith, who much later married the daughter of William Brydges, 4th Baron Chandos. It is quite likely that both Thomas and Richard were in the service of the Brydges family by 1584. Nothing more can be said of this Richard Smith, except that he was one of his brother’s executors and was then renting from him a large house named Hartley court, near Reading.2

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: Alan Harding

Notes

• 1. Add. 38823.
• 2. Vis. Berks. (Harl. Soc. lvii), 78; PCC 113 Dorset; CSP Dom. 1603-10, p. 563.