Arms of Smith: Or, a chevron cotised sable between three demi-griffins couped of the last the two in chief respecting each other[1]
George Smith (30 April 1765 – 26 December 1836) was a British Member of Parliament (MP), banker and director of the East India Company.
He was the fifth son of Abel Smith, a wealthy Nottingham banker and Member of Parliament. Four of his brothers were also members of parliament and one, Robert, was raised to the peerage as Baron Carrington. A portion of the family wealth was devoted to buying control of two pocket boroughs, Wendover and Midhurst, and Carrington kept the seats here almost exclusively for use by various members of the Smith family until his power was ended by the Great Reform Act.
Smith lived at Selsdon in Surrey. He married Frances Mary Mosley (bap. 24 March 1773, d. 5 July 1844), daughter of Sir John Parker Mosley, 1st Baronet, and Elizabeth Bayley.[2] They had 9 sons and 6 daughters:
Georgina Elizabeth Smith (1801–1828) m. Rev. Edward Serocold.
Emily Smith (1806–1879) m. Rev. Charles Mayne.
Catherine Smith (1807–1870) m. Edward Wigram.
Sophia Sarah Smith (1812–1883) m. Rev. William Wigram.
Augusta Mary Smith (1816–1892) m. Rev. Lewis Deedes.
His memorial in All Saints Church, Sanderstead, states:
GEORGE SMITH ESQUIRE
OF SELSDON
BROTHER OF ROBERT, LORD CARRINGTON
FOR NEARLY FORTY YEARS
A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
AND A DIRECTOR OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
BORN APRIL XXX MDCCLXV
DIED DECEMBER XXVI MDCCCXXXVI
IN HIM
UNUSUAL MEEKNESS AND SIMPLICITY
WERE UNITED
WITH UNCOMPROMISING PRINCIPLES
OF JUSTICE AND HONOR
THE PURITY OF HIS CHARACTER
BOTH IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIFE
WAS UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED AND RESPECTED
AND HIS BENEVOLENCE WAS FELT BY ALL AROUND HIM
HIS WIDOW
AND THIRTEEN SURVIVING SONS AND DAUGHTERS
WHO INSCRIBE THIS MONUMENT TO HIS MEMORY
ARE CONSOLED BY THE RECOLLECTION
OF HIS PIETY HIS HOPE AND TRUST IN GOD
AND HIS CONSTANT ENDEAVOR
TO DISCHARGE THE DUTIES OF HIS STATION
AS A SERVANT OF CHRIST.
KEEP INNOCENCY
AND TAKE HEED UNTO THE THING THAT IS RIGHT:
FOR THAT SHALL BRING A MAN PEACE AT THE LAST.
His family were slave owners, his son George Robert Smith placing a claim to be compensated for the freedom of 461 slaves, worth £17,945 10s 3d, the largest claim made in Croydon.[3]
References
^Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.223, Smith/Carington, Baron Carrington; p.145, Smith, Baron Bicester, both descendants of the banker Abel Smith II (1717–1788)
^Edward J. Davies, "Some Connections of the Birds of Warwickshire", The Genealogist, 26(2012):58–76.
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