Nathaniel Smith (1730 – 6 May 1794) was a naval officer, director of the

Honourable East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and a 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. ...

variously between 1783 and 1794. Smith was the posthumous son of naval captain Nathaniel Smith of St Giles Cripplegate and his wife Anne Gould, daughter of James Gould. Smith joined the naval service of the

and was appointed commander of the East-Indiaman Clinton in 1759. In 1765 he transferred to the Lord Camden. After six voyages to India he retired in 1771 with a small fortune. He stood for parliament unsuccessfully at

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

in 1772 and in 1780.J. Brooke, Lewis Namier ''The House of Commons 1754-1790, Volume 3''
/ref> Smith wrote three pamphlets on the rule of the East India Company in India and two on its shipping problems. He became a director of the company in 1774. In February 1783, Smith was elected

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

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wake ...

until he was unseated on petition in April 1783. However he vigorously opposed Fox's India Bill and was consequently elected chairman of the HEIC in November 1783. In 1784 Smith was elected MP for

and held the seat until 1790. He offered guarded support for

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-Genera ...

in the debate on his impeachment in 1787. He regained the seat in a by-election in 1792 and held it until his death aged 63 in 1794. Smith married Hester Dance, daughter of George Dance on 4 December 1784. He provided support for his wife's nephew

Nathaniel Dance Sir Nathaniel Dance (20 June 1748 – 25 March 1827) was an officer of the East India Company who had a long and varied career on merchant vessels, making numerous voyages to India and back with the fleets of East Indiamen. He was already awar ...

in his dealings with the East India Company.Exploring Surrey's past
/ref>

References

1794 deaths 1730 births Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 Directors of the British East India Company {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub