Sir George Smith, 1st Baronet

Sir George Smith, 1st Baronet (1714-1769) of Smith House (later "Bromley House"), Angel Row, Nottingham and of Stoke Hall in the parish of East Stoke in Nottinghamshire, was a member of the Smith family of bankers, who established Smith's Bank in Nottingham in 1658. He was created a baronet "of East Stoke in the County of Nottingham", a title in the Baronetage of Great Britain, on 31 October 1757.[4]

Arms of Smith: Or, a chevron cotised sable between three demi-griffins couped of the last the two in chief respecting each other, as is visible on the monument to Sir George Smith, 1st Baronet, in St. Oswald's parish church, East Stoke.[1][2]
Stoke Hall, East Stoke, Nottinghamshire, country seat of Sir George Smith, 1st Baronet, later enlarged in 1812
Smith House, Angel Row, Nottingham, in 1916 and 2013, town house and office built by Sir George Smith, 1st Baronet. Called by his son "Bromley House" and later used as Nottingham Subscription Library. Said to have been "the best built house in town"[3]

Origins

He was the eldest son of Abel Smith I (1686–1756) of Nottingham, the 2nd son of Thomas Smith I (1631–1699), the founder of Smith's Bank in Nottingham. His younger brothers included: Abel Smith II (1717–1788) (father of Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington and of John Smith (1767–1842) of Blendon Hall, MP, great-grandfather of Vivian Smith, 1st Baron Bicester (1867–1956)) and John Smith (born 1716), ancestor of Julian Pauncefote, 1st Baron Pauncefote (1828-1902).

His mother was Jane Beaumont (1689-1743), a daughter of George Beaumont of Chapelthorpe in Yorkshire.

Marriages & issue

He married twice:

Sir George Pauncefote-Bromley, 2nd Baronet (1753–1808), 1780 miniature by John Smart
    • Sir George Pauncefote-Bromley, 2nd Baronet (1753–1808), High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1775. In 1778 he assumed by Royal licence the surname and arms of Bromley in lieu of his patronymic and in 1803 he assumed by Royal licence the surname of Pauncefote in addition to that of Bromley, having inherited or purchased the outstanding moities of his maternal estates of Carswalls and Preston from his mother's childless first-cousin Robert Bromley (d.1803) of Abberley. Robert Bromley (d.1803) thus disposed of his maternal estates to the descendant of his mother's sister, but his paternal estate of Abberley he bequeathed to his illegitimate kinsman Col. Henry Bromley (c.1803-1836), a Member of Parliament for Worcester 1806-7, illegitimate son of a certain William Bromley. In 1778 he married Esther Curzon, who brought with her a large dowry, a daughter of Assheton Curzon, 1st Viscount Curzon (1730-1820) of Hagley Hall in Staffordshire. However by 1782 it had become clear to his wife that he was homosexual: Lady Bromley observed an increasing impertinent familiar behaviour of Sr George Bromley to his male servants, but inspecting (suspecting) as she was of the cause, it past on for some time until his conduct discovered evident proof to her of a strong propensity to the vice of sodomitical practices he separated himself from her bed grew less attentive and soon almost entirely alienated his affections, if he ever entertained any, for her, and directed all his thoughts and actions to his favourite male servants spending the whole of his time with them in his study or in amusements under the pretences of fishing and having one constantly to sleep in the same room with him.[8] Following the complaint of one of his male servants, he was tried at Nottingham Assizes in 1791 and was convicted for assault and attempted sodomy and was jailed for 2 years, and was divorced by his wife. By his wife he had a son and heir:
      • Admiral Sir Robert Howe Bromley, 3rd Baronet (1778–1857)
  • Secondly in 1768 he married Catherine Vyse (died 1786), a daughter of William Vyse of Lichfield, Archdeacon of Salop.[9]

Monument at East Stoke

His mural monument survives in St. Oswald's parish church, East Stoke,[10] displaying the arms of Smith (Or, a chevron cotised sable between three demi-griffins couped of the last the two in chief respecting each other), with an inescutcheon of pretence of Howe (Or, a fess between three wolf's heads couped sable[11] of four quarters) impaling Vyse (Argent, a buck's head cabossed sable between the attires a cross of the last[12]). It is inscribed as follows:

Sacred to the memory of Sir George Smith Bart of Nottingham and of Stoke Hall who died Sept 5th 1769 aged 55. And of Mary his first wife daughter and sole heiress of William Howe Esqr who died May 18th 1761 aged 35, by whom he had issue: Howe, born June 26th 1749; May, born May 3d 1751; Jane, born July 27th 1760, who all died in their infancy and lie interr'd in the vault underneath this monument with their father and mother. George (their only surviving child) caused this monument to be erected as a testimony of his affectionate regard for his deceased parents.

Further reading

  • Ted White, The Smith Family of Bromley House, 2015

References

  1. See image
  2. Arms also used by Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington (1752–1838) and by Vivian Smith, 1st Baron Bicester (1867–1956) (Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.223, Smith/Carington, Baron Carrington; p.145, Smith, Baron Bicester), both descendants of the banker Abel Smith II (1717–1788), younger brother of the 1st Baronet
  3. Ted White, The Smith Family of Bromley House, 2015
  4. "No. 9734". The London Gazette. 25 October 1757. p. 2.
  5. 'Newent - Manors and Estates', in A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 12, ed. A.R.J. Jurica (Woodbridge, 2010), pp. 38-54
  6. 'Preston', in A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 12, ed. A.R.J. Jurica (Woodbridge, 2010), pp. 301-317
  7. Per his monument in St. Oswald's parish church, East Stoke
  8. Tim White
  9. B. Redford (ed.), The Letters of Samuel Johnson, Vol II: 1773-1776 (Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey 1992), p. 222 note 3 (Google), citing A.L. Reade, Johnsonian Gleanings, Vol. 5: The Doctor's Life, 1728-1735 (London 1928), p. 211; Vol. 11: Consolidated Index of Persons (London 1952), p. 436.
  10. See image
  11. Burke's General Armory, 1884, p.513
  12. Burke's General Armory, 1884, p.1060
Baronetage of Great Britain
New creation Baronet
(of East Stoke)
1757–1769
Succeeded by
George Pauncefote-Bromley
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