Family and Education

b. bef. 17 Dec. 1659, 1st s. of Sir Hugh Smith, 1st Bt. educ. Eton; St. John’s, Oxf. 1677. m. 11 Aug. 1692 (with £10,000), Elizabeth, da. and coh. of Sir Samuel Astry of Henbury, Glos., clerk of the crown in the Kb 3s. 5da. suc. fa. 28 July 1680.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Som. 1679-80, 1689-90, j.p. and dep. lt. 1680 Feb. 1688, Oct. 1688-1719, sheriff Nov. 1688-Apr. 1689, Nov. 1689-90.2

Gent. of privy chamber 1702-14.3

Biography

Smith was named after his maternal grandfather, John Ashburnham I, who took a keen interest in his education. He naturally grew up a Tory, and was returned for Somerset in 1685, probably unopposed, despite the handicap of having a step-father in the Rye House Plot. He is not known either to have spoken or to have sat on any committees in James II’s Parliament. To the lord lieutenant’s questions on the repeal of the Test Act and Penal Laws, he gave the same negative replies as Edward Phelips II, and was removed from the lieutenancy. His appointment as sheriff apparently only prompted him to join William of Orange. After regaining his seat in 1695, he voted with the Tories and refused to sign the Association. He died on 26 May 1726, the last of the direct line to sit in Parliament, though his daughter brought the Long Ashton estate to her husband, an attorney called Jarrit Smith’, who sat for Bristol from 1756 to 1768.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Irene Cassidy

Notes

• 1. Collinson, Som. ii. 30; Bristol RO, AC/74/10, 34, John Ashburnham to Hugh Smith, 17 Dec. 1659, 28 June n.s.; Bristol and Glos. Arch. Soc. Trans. xxxiii. 313, 326.
• 2. Q. Sess. Recs. (Som. Rec. Soc. xxxiv), p. xviii; Bristol RO, AC/F6/12-15.
• 3. Carlisle, Privy Chamber, 213.
• 4. HMC 6th Rep. 347; E. Green, March of Wm. of Orange through Som. 57-58.