John Spencer Smith FRS (11 September 1769 – 5 June 1845) was a British diplomat, politician and writer. Husband of Constance Smith (née Herbert) (Byron's Florence).

Career

Smith joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in 1790 as an

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

, later promoted to lieutenant. When France declared war on Britain in February 1793 he was in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

with his elder brother, Sidney Smith, who obtained a position for him in the British embassy in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

. He was private secretary to the ambassador,

Robert Liston Robert Liston (28 October 1794 – 7 December 1847) was a British surgeon. Liston was noted for his speed and skill in an era prior to anaesthetics, when speed made a difference in terms of pain and survival. He was the first Professor of Cl ...

, and was chargé d'affaires after Liston left Constantinople in November 1795. He was formally appointed Secretary of Legation in 1798 and continued to serve as chargé d'affaires ''ad interim''. Smith left Constantinople in 1801 and arrived in England just in time to be invited to stand for Parliament for the borough of Dover in the United Kingdom general election of 1802. While he was a member of parliament he was sent on a mission as Envoy Extraordinary to

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...

in 1803–04. This mission was interpreted by the French as espionage and used to justify the kidnap of Sir George Rumbold at Hamburg.Arrest Of Sir George Rumbold
''The Times'', London, 16 November 1804, page 2 Smith withdrew from Dover at the general election of 1806 and soon afterwards settled in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

where he wrote on a variety of scholarly subjects. He died at Caen on 5 June 1845.

References

SMITH, John Spencer (1769-1845)
in ''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820'', ed. R. Thorne, 1986 * Fétis (1865)
Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique, vol.8, p.54
(in French)

External links

* 1769 births 1845 deaths Grenadier Guards officers British diplomats Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Dover 19th-century English writers Fellows of the Royal Society UK MPs 1802–1806 19th-century English male writers {{England-UK-MP-stub