Sir James Smyth, 1st Baronet (c. 1686 – 28 February 1717) was a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in the

Baronetage of Great Britain Baronets are a rank in the British aristocracy. The current Baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced the earlier but existing Baronetages of England, Nova Scotia, Ireland, and Great Britain. Baronetage of England (1611–1705) King James I ...

. He was the only son of Alderman Sir James Smyth, a London draper and

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

, 1684–85, by his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Arthur Shirley of

Isfield Isfield is a small village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex in England, located north-east of Lewes.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publish ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. Alderman Smyth was the second son of Sir Robert Smyth, 1st Baronet of Upton, Essex. He married Elizabeth Shirley in June 1682, and died aged 72 on 9 December 1706.

Cokayne, George Edward George Edward Cokayne, (29 April 1825 – 6 August 1911), was an English genealogist and long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London, who eventually rose to the rank of Clarenceux King of Arms. He wrote such authoritative and standar ...

(1906)
Complete Baronetage
'. Volume V. Exeter: W. Pollard & Co. . pp. 23–24 James Smyth was born about 1686, and matriculated at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, on 16 September 1702 aged 16. He succeeded to his father's estate in December 1706, and was created a baronet on 2 December 1714. He was

Sheriff of Sussex The office of Sheriff of Sussex was established before the Norman Conquest. The Office of sheriff remained first in precedence in the counties until the reign of Edward VII when an Order in Council in 1908 gave the Lord-Lieutenant the prime office ...

, 1714–15. He married Mirabella, daughter of Sir Robert Legard,

Master in Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equ ...

. She died on 21 February 1714, aged 29. James Smyth died aged 31 on 28 February 1717. Both were buried with his parents at

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

; he was succeeded by his only son, Robert. Sir Robert Smyth, 2nd Baronet, was born about 1709. He married Louisa Caroline Isabella, youngest daughter of

John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol (27 August 1665 – 20 January 1751) was an English politician. John Hervey was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, the son of Sir Thomas Hervey. He was educated in Bury and at Clare College, Cambridge. He ...

, on 23 September 1731. She died on 11 May 1770 aged 55, and was buried at West Ham. He died on 10 December 1783 aged 74, and was buried alongside his wife. He was succeeded by his only son, Hervey. Sir Hervey Smyth, 3rd Baronet, was born in 1734. He became

Page of Honour A Page of Honour is a ceremonial position in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It requires attendance on state occasions, but does not now involve the daily duties which were once attached to the office of page. The onl ...

George II of Great Britain , house = Hanover , religion = Protestant , father = George I of Great Britain , mother = Sophia Dorothea of Celle , birth_date = 30 October / 9 November 1683 , birth_place = Herrenhausen Palace,Cannon. or Leine ...

, and was aide-de-camp to General

James Wolfe James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a Major-general (United Kingdom), major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the Kingdom of France, French ...

at the siege of Quebec in 1759, becoming afterwards Colonel in the Foot Guards. He died unmarried aged 77 on 2 October 1811, when the baronetcy became extinct. His only sister Anna Mirabella Henrietta, born in 1738, married William Beale Brand, of Polsted Hall, Suffolk, in 1761.

References

1680s births 1717 deaths Year of birth uncertain Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain High Sheriffs of Sussex {{GreatBritain-baronet-stub