John Benjamin Smith grave Kensal Green 2014

John Benjamin Smith (7 February 1794 – 15 September 1879) was an English

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

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. T ...

from 1847 to 1874.

Life

Smith was the son of Benjamin Smith, a merchant of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

. He was himself a merchant and was president of the Manchester

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ...

from 1839 to 1841. He was the first chairman of the

Anti-Corn Law League The Anti-Corn Law League was a successful political movement in Great Britain aimed at the abolition of the unpopular Corn Laws, which protected landowners’ interests by levying taxes on imported wheat, thus raising the price of bread at a tim ...

. He was a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or '' puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the s ...

for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

and author of several economics works.Debretts House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1870
/ref> Smith stood unsuccessfully for parliament at

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

in 1837, and at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

and

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

in 1841. In 1847 he 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 o ...

for Stirling Burghs and held the seat until July 1852. He was then elected MP for

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is withi ...

and held the seat until 1874. Smith lived at King's Ride, Ascot, Berkshire where he died aged 85. In 1841 Smith married Jemina Durning, eldest daughter of William Durning, from a wealthy well-established Liverpool family. Before her marriage, she had lived with her sister Emma and her husband George Holt, parents of the merchant of that name. John Benjamin Smith is buried at

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...

, London.

Daughters and legacy

The Smiths had two daughters, Jemina and Edith Jane. Edith Jane Smith married a lawyer named Edwin Lawrence, the Baconian enthusiast, two of whose elder brothers,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and James, both served as Liberal MPs and

Lord mayors of London List of all mayors and lord mayors of London (leaders of the City of London Corporation, and first citizens of the City of London, from medieval times). Until 1354, the title held was Mayor of London. The dates are those of election to of ...

. Edwin changed his name to

Edwin Durning-Lawrence Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, 1st Baronet (2 February 1837 – 21 April 1914) was a British lawyer and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his advocacy of the Baconian theory of Shakespeare authorship, which asserts that Francis Bacon w ...

before receiving his baronethood. The Lawrence family was closely connected to

Unitarianism Unitarianism (from Latin language, Latin ''unitas'' "unity, oneness", from ''unus'' "one") is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian branch of Christian theology. Most other branches of Christianity and the major Churches accept the Trinity, doctri ...

, for example purchasing land for the move of the Essex Street Chapel. The other daughter,

Jemina Durning Smith Jemina Durning Smith (1843–1901) was a British philanthropist. She was the daughter of the Manchester cotton merchant, John Benjamin Smith, who in 1835 becoming the founding chairman of the Anti-Corn Law League, and his wife Jemina Durning, wh ...

, founded the local library, known as the Ascot Durning Library, which (as of 2011) was still supported by the Durning Trust. She also co-founded the

Durning Library Durning Library is a public lending library in Kennington, London. It is part of Lambeth Libraries in the London Borough of Lambeth and is in purpose-built Grade II listed building at 167 Kennington Lane, Kennington, London SE11. The Durni ...

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area e ...

, south London, with her brother-in-law Edwin as one of the commissioners and another brother-in-law, James, to open it A plaque to her hangs on the wall of the " Arts & Crafts masterpiece" that opened in

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between the ...

in 1889."Big Society: What Would Jemina Think?" Paul Mason's blog ''Idle Scrawl'', BBC. 13 February 2011.
/ref>

Publications

*''A reply to the letter of Samuel Jones Lloyd, Esq., on the effect of the administration of the Bank of England'' 1840 (see Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone) *''How to obtain increased supplies of Cotton'' 1855 *''An Inquiry into the causes of Panics and of the frequent Fluctuations in the rate of Discount'' 1866

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, John Benjamin 1796 births 1879 deaths Scottish Liberal Party MPs Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1847–1852 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Stirling constituencies UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1868–1874 People from Ascot, Berkshire Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Stockport