George Smith (1765–1836)
George Smith (30 April 1765 – 26 December 1836) was a British Member of Parliament, a banker, and a director of the East India Company. He was the fifth son of Abel Smith, a rich Nottingham banker and MP. Several of his brothers were MPs, and one, Robert, became Baron Carrington. The Smith family owned and used two pocket boroughs, Wendover and Midhurst, to keep seats for relatives until the Great Reform Act changed the system.
George Smith entered Parliament in 1791 as MP for Lostwithiel, and he also represented Midhurst and Wendover over a career spanning about forty years. He lived at Selsdon in Surrey. He married Frances Mary Mosley, daughter of Sir John Parker Mosley, 1st Baronet, and Elizabeth Bayley. They had nine sons and six daughters.
His memorial in All Saints Church, Sanderstead, describes him as gentle and simple in nature, with strong, uncompromising principles of justice and honor. It says his character was pure in public and private life and that his benevolence was felt by all.
The Smith family were slave owners. His son George Robert Smith later claimed compensation for the freedom of 461 slaves, worth £17,945 10s 3d, the largest such claim in Croydon.
George Smith is an ancestor of the current British monarchy through Frances Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 13:25 (CET).