Joshua Smith (1732 – 20 March 1819) was an English merchant and politician.
He was born the son of John Smith, a Lambeth merchant and became a timber merchant himself. He lived at Erlestoke Park, near Devizes, Wiltshire. He became a director of the East India Company in 1771, and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Devizes from 1788 to 1818, although not an active member.[1]
In 1766 he married Sarah,[1] the daughter of Nathaniel Gilbert, judge and member of the legislative council of Antigua, with whom he had four daughters. They employed the painter Margaret Meenas their daughter's drawing instructor.[2] Their eldest daughter Maria married in 1787 Charles Compton, 1st Marquess of Northampton.[3]
Smith died on 20 March 1819.[1] Subsequently, his Erlestoke seat was sold to George Watson-Taylor. Smith's library was sold at auction by Edward Jeffery on 25 May 1820 and eight following days, in 1671 lots. Two copies of the catalogue exist at Cambridge University Library,[4] one of them annotated in a contemporary hand "offered to G. Watson Taylor Esq. MP for £2500 – sold for upwards of £4000", suggesting the library was offered to Watson Taylor too, but that he declined to acquire it.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Thorne, R. G. "SMITH, Joshua (1732-1819), of Erlestoke Park, nr. Devizes, Wilts". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- ^ Simpkiss, Jane (9 May 2024), "Meen, Margaret (bap. 1751, d. 1834), artist and botanical illustrator", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382483, ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8, retrieved 6 November 2024
- ^ Namier, Lewis. "COMPTON, Charles, Lord Compton (1760-1828)". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
- ^ Jeffery, Edward (1820), A catalogue of the valuable and extensive library of books, late the property of Joshua Smith, Esq., M.P., of Stoke Park, Devizes, deceased: which will be sold by auction ... on Thursday, May 25, 1820, and eight following days (Sunday excepted), retrieved 14 March 2023
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