Sir James Smyth (c. 1621 – 18 November 1681) was an English politician who sat 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 1661 to 1681. He was

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. ...

and captain of the

Tangier Regiment The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Arm ...

from its raising in 1661 until 1665, when he became lieutenant-colonel of the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...

. The Smyths were a prominent family in Exeter and he married a Cornish heiress. He was

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

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

from 1661 until 1679, and

Camelford Camelford ( kw, Reskammel) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, situated in the River Camel valley northwest of Bodmin Moor. The town is approximately ten miles (16 km) north of Bodmin and is governed by ...

from 1679 until his death in 1681.History of Parliament Online - Smyth, Sir James
/ref> He is regarded as the founder of

Sir James Smith's School Sir James Smith's School is a coeducational secondary school located in the town of Camelford, North Cornwall, England. The headteacher is Kristien Carrington. History Founded as a grammar school in 1679, at a property overlooking the town, the ...

, Camelford (established 1679, modified 1962).

References

*Dyer, Peter (2005) ''Tintagel: a portrait of a parish''. Cambridge: Cambridge Books. ; p. 129 1620s births 1681 deaths Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Exeter Coldstream Guards officers Queen's Royal Regiment officers English MPs 1661–1679 English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1681 {{17thC-England-MP-stub