Colonel Abel Henry Smith (6 December 1862 – 10 November 1930) was a British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician and an English landowner of the Smith banking family. Smith was the son of Abel Smith (1829–98), from whom he inherited the large estate of

Woodhall Park Woodhall Park is a Grade I listed country house near Watton-at-Stone, Hertfordshire, England. The 18th century neo-classical building is set in a walled park in the Beane valley. It has been the home of Heath Mount School since the 1930s. Histo ...

, near

Watton-at-Stone Watton-at-Stone is a village in the English county of Hertfordshire, situated midway between the towns of Stevenage and Hertford in the valley of the River Beane. The 2011 census showed a population of 2,272 living in 946 households. Watton-at-St ...

in Hertfordshire.

Political career

Over a dozen of his ancestors had sat in the House of Commons over the preceding century. At the 1892 general election, he was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

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. He was re-elected in

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

, but at the 1900 general election he stood instead in the Hertford constituency which had been represented by his father until his death in 1898. He won the 1900 election, and held the seat until he stood down at the general election in January 1910. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

in August 1910.

Military career

After serving as a

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

in the

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

Rifle Volunteers, in 1885 he was commissioned into the part-time Hertfordshire Yeomanry in which his father had served. He was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in command of C Troop in 1889 and commanded B Squadron as a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

from 1896 to 1901. He then served as second-in-command under the

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. On 12 April 1913 he took over as commanding officer with the rank of

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

. He mobilised the regiment on the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in August 1914, but was not passed fit for overseas service when the regiment embarked for

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. Instead he formed and trained the regiment's second line unit in

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until 1916, when he was medically downgraded further and took over command of the regimental depot at Hertford until early 1917. He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Hertfordshire Yeomanry on 26 September 1916, and remained joint Hon Colonel when it merged into the

86th (East Anglian) (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery The 86th (East Anglian) (Hertfordshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, was a unit of Britain's part-time Territorial Army (TA) formed after World War I from existing artillery and Yeomanry Cavalry units recruited in Hertfordshire. Its ...

, after the war.''Monthly Army List''. After his death in 1930, aged 67, the contents of the family's stately home were dispersed, and the building rented out.

References

External links

* 1862 births 1930 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Deputy Lieutenants of Hertfordshire Hertfordshire Yeomanry officers UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs 1906–1910 People from Watton-at-Stone English landowners Abel {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1860s-stub