Abel Smith III (29 June 1748 – 22 January 1779) of Wilford House in the parish of

Wilford Wilford is a village in the city of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. The village is to the northeast of Clifton, Nottinghamshire, Clifton, southwest of West Bridgford, northwest of Ruddington and southwest of Nottingham city centre. It i ...

, near

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, England, was a British banker and politician who sat briefly in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1778 to 1779.

Origins

Smith was the second of the six sons of Abel Smith II (1717–1788), a

banker who, following his father Abel Smith I (1686–1756), had continued developing the business into what was by the end of the century to become one of the biggest private banks in England. Abel Smith I (the son of Thomas Smith (1631-1699) of Nottingham who founded

Smith's Bank Smith's Bank was a series of English banking partnerships in London and the provinces, all controlled by the Smith family that operated between 1658 and 1918. Although Smith's Bank was never a single entity, the first bank was established in N ...

) had contented himself with using some of his wealth to intervene in other people's elections. His next younger brother was

Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington (22 January 1752 – 18 September 1838), was a British banker and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1779 to 1797 when he was raised to the peerage. Early life Smith was the third son of Abel Sm ...

, who followed him as an MP for Nottingham, and took over the business on his father's death and in 1796 he was raised to the peerage. Three of Abel Smith III's other younger brothers also became MPs.

Career

His father Abel Smith II entered Parliament for a

pocket borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...

in 1774 and subsequently for two more, in Cornwall. Four years later, in October 1778, the young Abel Smith III could rely on the family's standing in his home city to secure election as a

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 ...

for

; however, he died only three months later.

Marriage & issue

He married Elizabeth Uppleby, a daughter of Charles Uppleby of Wootton, by whom he had one daughter: *Mary Smith (d.1861), wife of John Sargent of Carlton Hall, Lindrick, Nottinghamshire.

References

1748 births 1779 deaths Politicians from Nottingham

Abel Abel ''Hábel''; ar, هابيل, Hābīl is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He was the younger brother of Cain, and the younger son of Adam and Eve, the first couple in Biblical history. He was a shepher ...

Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1774–1780 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub