John Smith (1567–1640) of

North Nibley North Nibley is a village in Gloucestershire, England about northwest of Wotton-under-Edge. Name The village is commonly known as ''Nibley'', but the official name distinguishes it from the village of Nibley, just outside Yate, about away i ...

in Gloucestershire, was an English lawyer and antiquary and was the genealogist of the

Berkeley family The Berkeley family is an English family. It is one of five families in Britain that can trace its patrilineal descent back to an Anglo-Saxon ancestor (the other four being the Arden family, the Swinton family, the Wentworth family, and the ...

. He served as a Member of Parliament for

Midhurst Midhurst () is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester District in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother (Western), River Rother, inland from the English Channel and north of Chichester. The name Midhurst was first reco ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

from 1621 to 1622.

Early life

Smith was the son of Thomas Smith of Hoby, Leicestershire and his wife Joan Alan, daughter of Richard Alan, citizen of Derby. He was educated at the free school, Derby and then went in 1584 to Callowden to wait on Thomas Berkeley (d. 1611), son and

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley, KB (26 November 1534 – 26 November 1613) was an English peer and politician. He was Lord Lieutenant and Vice-Admiral of Gloucestershire. He was the grandfather of George Berkeley, 8th Baron Berkeley. F ...

(1534–1613), of

Berkeley Castle Berkeley Castle ( ; historically sometimes spelled as ''Berkley Castle'' or ''Barkley Castle'') is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England. The castle's origins date back to the 11th century, being designated by English ...

in Gloucestershire. He studied under the same tutor, and he went up with the young nobleman to

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

, in 1589.

Career

In 1594 he was admitted to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

, and two years later, having completed his law studies there, returned to

in Gloucestershire as household steward to

(1534–1613). In 1597 he was awarded by that family the more lucrative and important office of steward of the hundred and liberty of Berkeley. About the same time he took up his residence at

, Gloucestershire, near Berkeley Castle, where in time he acquired two adjacent manor-houses, "adorned with gardens and groves and a large park well wooded." The Berkeleys were so generous to him that the family's

court jester A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...

is said on one occasion to have tied

to the church with twine "to prevent the former from going to Nibley." As steward of the manor, Smith had charge of the muniments room at the castle, and devoted himself to studying the valuable deeds and papers which had accumulated there over the centuries. He eventually wrote in three volumes ''The Lives of the Berkeleys, Lords of the

Honour Honour (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself ...

, Castle and Manor of Berkeley from 1066 to 1618'', a history of the lives of the first twenty-one lords of Berkeley, from the Norman conquest down to 1628 and assigned to each one an

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

suiting their career. In 1621, Smith was elected Member of Parliament for

, but took little part in the increasingly contentious politics of the time.

Marriages and progeny

Smith married firstly Grace, a native of Nibley, who died in 1609, without issue. Secondly on 9 January 1610 he married Mary Browning, daughter of John Browning of Cowley, by whom he had five sons and three daughters (for descendants see Nibley House, North Nibley). He is believed to be the great grandfather of the poet John Smith.

Death

Smith died at Nibley in the autumn of 1640.

Works

Smith wrote at least 20 books, which in 1639 having just finished his last major work, the ''History of the Hundred of Berkeley'', he called "the recreations of my last 50 years".Davidson & Coates His works included: *Smyth, John. ''The Lives of the Berkeleys, Lords of the

, Castle and Manor of Berkeley from 1066 to 1618'', ed. Maclean, Sir John, 3 vols., Gloucester, 1883–1885 (First published c.1628)
Vol 1, 1883

Vol 2, 1883

Vol.3, ''History of the Hundred of Berkeley'', 1885

Early life

Career

Marriages and progeny

Death

Works

References

Further reading