William Smarte (ca. 1530 – 23 September 1599), of

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

, Suffolk, was an English merchant and landowner. William father was Richard Smart(e), a

draper Draper was originally a term for a retailer or wholesaler of cloth that was mainly for clothing. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. History Drapers were an important trade guild during the medieval period ...

in the parish of

St Mary-le-Tower St Mary-le-Tower is the civic church of Ipswich and a Grade II* listed building. It was in the churchyard of St Mary that the town charter of Ipswich was written in 1200. History Although medieval, the church mostly dates from 1860 to 1870, wh ...

, Ipswich, who had held the political office of Bailiff in Ipswich.. His mother was Richard's wife, Katherine Went. When his father died in 1560 William inherited four manors in Essex and Suffolk.

Career

The first role he took as an office holder for the corporation was as treasurer, 1560-1. He was elected a portman in 1565 and was elected

bailiff A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offi ...

five times from 1569 to 1594. In May 1586 he was imprisoned in

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...

following his action to obstruct the sending of supplies to

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years. Dudley's youth was ov ...

who had accepted the post of Governor-General of the United Provinces following the death of

William the Silent William the Silent (24 April 153310 July 1584), also known as William the Taciturn (translated from nl, Willem de Zwijger), or, more commonly in the Netherlands, William of Orange ( nl, Willem van Oranje), was the main leader of the Dutch Re ...

Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands. The title ...

. Leicester was keen to confront the Spanish commander,

Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma Alexander Farnese ( it, Alessandro Farnese, es, Alejandro Farnesio; 27 August 1545 – 3 December 1592) was an Italian noble and condottiero and later a general of the Spanish army, who was Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1586 to 1592 ...

, who aimed to suppress the Dutch rebels further following his capture of Antwerp. However,

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

was infuriated by such enthusiasm and instructed him to avoid any decisive victories. At a time when Leicester was trying to lift the

Siege of Grave Siege of Grave may refer to: * Siege of Grave (1586) * Siege of Grave (1602) The siege of Grave was a siege that took place between 18 July to 20 September 1602, as part of the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. The Spanish-held ci ...

, Smarte issued a proclamation in Ipswich assembling a body of citizens who joined him on a ship owned by Thomas Bennett, where they found a quantity of Suffolk bacon, which they seized and sold or otherwise distributed. In this he had the support of Ipswich Corporation: the Town Clerk and other citizens sent letters to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

supporting the probity of his actions. He was 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 ...

(MP) in the 7th Parliament of Queen Elizabeth I, representing

in 1588.

Charitable endowments

He made a substantial endowment to the almshouses in Ipswich in 1591, which then became known as the Tooley's and Smart's Almshouses. On his death in 1599 he gave a number of medieval manuscripts, originally from the abbey of Bury St Edmunds, to Pembroke College Cambridge.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-61320000.amp

References

External Links

History of Parliament online
1530s births 1599 deaths Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Ipswich English MPs 1589 {{16thC-England-MP-stub