Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington

Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington FRS FSA (22 January 1752 – 18 September 1838), was a British Member of Parliament and banker. He was the third son of Abel Smith (1717–1788) and his wife Mary (née Bird). His grandfather, also named Abel Smith (c. 1690 – 1756), was the third son of Thomas Smith, the founder of Smith's Bank of Nottingham.

Politics

Succeeding his elder brother Abel, who died three months after having been elected MP in October 1778, Smith was elected to the House of Commons for Nottingham in 1779, a seat he held until 1797, when he was succeeded by Sir John Borlase Warren.

In 1796 he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Carrington, of Bulcote Lodge.^[1] The following year he was made Baron Carrington, of Upton in the County of Nottingham, in the Peerage of Great Britain.^[2]

He was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (1800)^[3] and of the Society of Antiquaries (1812).^[4] In 1819 he was admitted as Nobleman to Magdalene College, Cambridge.^[5]

He was the Captain of Deal Castle from 1802 until his death.

Family

Smith married firstly, on 6 July 1780 at Tottenham, Anne Boldero-Barnard (1756–1827), daughter of Lewyns and Anne (Popplewell) Boldero-Barnard.^[6] They had one son and five daughters. After her death in 1827, he married, secondly, Charlotte Hudson (1770–1849), daughter of John Hudson and Susanna Trevelyan, in 1836. He was 83, she was 65. He died in September 1838, aged 86, and was succeeded in his titles by his only son Robert, who changed his last name to Carrington the next year.^[7]

Styles of address

• 1752–1779: Mr Robert Smith
• 1779–1796: Mr Robert Smith MP
• 1796–1797: The Right Honourable The Lord Carrington MP^{[lower-alpha 1]}
• 1797–1800: The Right Honourable The Lord Carrington^{[lower-alpha 2]}
• 1800–1812: The Right Honourable The Lord Carrington FRS
• 1812–1838: The Right Honourable The Lord Carrington FRS FSA

1. Although The Lord Carrington was a peer, the peerage was in the Peerage of Ireland, meaning that he remained as a Member of Parliament in the Parliament of Great Britain.
2. The Lord Carrington was raised to the peerage in the Peerage of Great Britain as well, meaning that he lost his seat in the House of Commons in the Parliament of Great Britain.

Issue

	Life span	Marriage(s)	Notes
by Anne Boldero-Barnard
Hon. Catherine Lucy Smith	Died 1843	Married Philip Henry Stanhope, Viscount Mahon, son of Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope, and Louisa Grenville, and later 4th Earl Stanhope; had issue.
Hon. Hester Frances Smith	Died 1854	Married Rt Hon. Sir Henry Watkin Williams-Wynn, son of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet, and Charlotte Grenville; had issue.	Sir Henry was a second cousin of his brother-in-law Viscount Mahon above.
Hon. Emily Smith	Died 1869	Married Rt Hon. Lord Granville Somerset, son of Henry Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort, and Lady Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower; had issue.
Hon. Charlotte Elizabeth Smith	Died 1811	Married Admiral Alan Hyde Gardner, 2nd Baron Gardner, son of Admiral Alan Gardner, 1st Baron Gardner, and Susannah Hyde Gale; had issue.
Hon. Harriet Smith	Died 1856	Married Col. John Frederick Crewe, son of Maj. Gen. Richard Crewe and Milborough Allpress; had issue.
Hon. Robert John Smith, later 2nd Baron Carrington	1796–1868	Married, firstly, Hon. Elizabeth Catherine Weld-Forester, daughter of Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron Forester, and Lady Katherine Mary Manners; had issue.	The 2nd Baron changed his last name to Carrington by Royal Licence in 1839.[7]
		Married, secondly, Hon. Charlotte Augusta Annabella Drummond-Willoughby, daughter of Peter Drummond-Burrell, 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby, and Lady Sarah Clementina Drummond; had issue.

Other descendants

Two of Smith's descendants gained particular political prominence. His grandson Charles, the 3rd Baron, was a Liberal politician and was created Earl Carrington in 1895 and Marquess of Lincolnshire in 1912,^[8] while his great-great-grandson Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, is a Conservative politician and served as Foreign Secretary in the Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1982.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington

16. John Smith (1593–1641/42)               8. Thomas Smith (1631–1699)                       17. Elizabeth Garton (died 1633)               4. Abel Smith (c. 1690 – 1756)                             18. Laurence Collin               9. Fortune Collin (1654–1715/16)                       2. Abel Smith (1717–1788)                                   20. William Beaumont (1638–1713)               10. George Beaumont (c. 1680 – 1712)                       21. Jane Milner (died 1719)               5. Jane Beaumont (died 1743)                             22. John Bagshawe               11. Gertrude Bagshawe (died 1713)                       1. Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington                                         12. William Bird (died 1731)                       6. Thomas Bird (died 1746)                             3. Mary Bird (1724–1780)[6]                                   28. George Martyn               14. Francis Martyn (1637–1713)                       7. Elizabeth Martyn (1699–1758)                             30. Charles Doughty (1626–1681)               15. Elizabeth Doughty (1665–1748)                       31. Mary Dandy (died 1682)

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 13914. p. 705. 23 July 1796.
2. The London Gazette: no. 14052. p. 968. 7 October 1797.
3. "Fellows 1660-2007" (PDF). Royal Society. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
4. "Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington". The Peerage. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
5. "Smith, Robert, Lord Carrington (SMT819R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
6. Edward J. Davies, "Some Connections of the Birds of Warwickshire", The Genealogist, 26 (2012):58–76.
7. Cokayne, and others, The Complete Peerage, volume II, page 197.
8. Burke's Peerage 2003, volume 1, page 706.

• Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.