SMYTH, George (c.1602-58), of St Margaret’s, Herts.

George Smyth, the son of a Sussex gentleman, was destined for the law, studying at Trinity College, Oxford, before entering Gray’s Inn in 1624.18Al. Ox.; G. Inn Admiss. 172. He was called to the bar in May 1633, and practised as a lawyer in London during the 1630s and 1640s, acquiring sufficient wealth to purchase an estate in Hertfordshire. In May 1650 he was called to join the ‘grand company of ancients’ of Gray’s Inn.19PBG Inn, 314, 376; A. and O. Smyth’s attachment to Parliament during this period is suggested by his addition to the Hertfordshire county committee in September 1645, and he was probably influenced by his brother-in-law, Robert Tichborne, a London merchant turned army officer and later regicide.20A. and O. In October 1651 Tichborne was chosen as one of eight commissioners to settle the government in Scotland, and it was probably through his patronage that Smyth was appointed as one of the commissioners for the administration of justice in Scotland in April 1652.21‘Richard Tichborne’, Oxford DNB; CSP Dom. 1651-2, p. 210; Cromwellian Union ed. Terry, 175. Although Smyth retained his family and landed interests in England (for example, being appointed to the Hertfordshire assessment commission in 1657) the rest of his career was entirely focused on affairs north of the border.22A. and O.

Smyth arrived in Scotland in early May 1652, and joined the six other judges sitting in the Parliament House in Edinburgh, ‘guarded every day with a number of soldiers’ – a wise precaution in a country still resentful of English rule.23Recs. Burgh Edinburgh, 1642-55, 281; Nicoll, Diary, 93, 96. As commissioner for the administration of justice, Smyth was responsible for both criminal and civil cases, and acquired a workload which more than justified his salary of £600 a year.24Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS XLIV, p. 4 and unfol.: 18 Aug. 1653, 1 Mar. and 3 Nov. 1654, 10 May 1655. In 1653 the commissioners fired off a succession of proclamations to tighten legal procedures and reform irregularities, and Smyth was also involved in negotiations with the city of Edinburgh.25Recs. Burgh Edinburgh, 1642-55, 318. The importance of the commissioners in legal affairs can be seen in comments of the Scottish diarist, John Nicoll, who said that the absence of Smyth and two of his colleagues during the first protectorate Parliament of 1654-5 meant there was ‘no sitting session in Edinburgh’ and ‘no calling of actions’ across the whole country.26Nicoll, Diary, 155. Smyth was also given other administrative duties during the early 1650s: in June 1652 he became commissioner for regulating the Scottish universities, and visitor of the same; and in April 1654 he was appointed commissioner for claims under the ordinance of pardon and grace.27Scot. and Commonwealth ed. Firth, 44-5; A. and O. Such appointments increased Smyth’s importance in the Scottish government, and brought him into close contacts with key figures like George Monck* (who had taken over as commander-in-chief in April 1654) and his fellow commissioner, Samuel Disbrowe*. It was no doubt with their blessing that Smyth was chosen as MP for Edinburgh Shire in 1654. The fact that he was named to only one committee in this Parliament – to the committee of Scottish affairs on 29 September – may disguise the true extent of his activity at Westminster, as most northern business was channelled through this committee.28CJ vii. 371b.

Returning to Scotland by August 1655, Smyth was ordered to address the claim of the city of Edinburgh to govern the port of Leith.29Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS XLVII, unfol.: 17 Aug. 1655. In April 1656 his commission under the ordinance for grace and pardon was extended, and in May he was appointed as one of the judges of the Scottish exchequer.30CSP Dom. 1655-6, pp. 279, 326. At this time Smyth was absent from Edinburgh, conducting one of the newly established assize circuits, covering Glasgow, Ayr, Dumfries and Jedburgh.31Dow, Cromwellian Scot. 178. Smyth’s return as MP for Dumfriesshire in the following August may have been facilitated by his work in the south west; it was certainly backed by the president of the Scottish council, Lord Broghill (Roger Boyle*), who told Secretary John Thurloe* that he had asked a local grandee, the earl of Hartfell (James Johnstone*), to manage the election. Broghill was sure of Smyth’s allegiance to the protectorate, describing him as ‘a very right man’.32TSP v. 295. Broghill may have been encouraged by Smyth’s hostility to the Protester faction in the Scottish Kirk, which manifested itself both in his private attempts to oust Sir Archibald Johnston* of Wariston from his place as clerk register and in his public opposition to ‘Wariston and his way’ in church matters in later months.33Baillie Lttrs. and Jnls. iii. 318; Wariston Diary, iii. 49; Consultations ed. Stephen, ii. 90.

During the early months of the second protectorate Parliament, Smyth’s main activity seems to have been through ad hoc committees, where his legal expertise was in demand. These included committees involving Scottish business, such as the suppression of lawlessness on the borders, the rival claims of the duchess of Hamilton and George Monck over the Kinneil estate, and the fall-out from the bankruptcy of the Edinburgh financier, Sir William Dick.34CJ vii. 427b, 464a, 485b, 488b. Smyth also emerged as a supporter of the conciliatory policies favoured by Broghill and his allies on the Scottish council. In the debate on the Scottish union bill on 4 December, Smyth joined Samuel Disbrowe and George Downing in arguing that the burghs should have their privileges confirmed, saying that ‘this is no more than his highness has granted them already’. The diarist Thomas Burton*, tired of Smyth’s contributions in the same debate, noted that he ‘desired to be heard once or thrice’ on the same subject; and the leading opponent of the motion, Major-general John Lambert, poked fun at the judge’s case, saying ‘I have heard of St George that was a champion for England; it seems there is now another St George risen up for Scotland’.35Burton’s Diary, i. 14, 18. Smyth’s religious conservatism can be seen in the debate on the fate of the Quaker, James Naylor, whom he attacked as a ‘horrid blasphemer’; he even suggested that Naylor should be given ‘the old way of punishment, that he may be stoned to death’.36Burton’s Diary, i. 34, 86-7. So far, Smyth was in agreement with Broghill and his allies, who looked for a ‘settlement’ which was politically inclusive but wary of religious radicalism. When it came to their new monarchical constitution, however, there is no evidence of Smyth’s involvement, although it is not clear whether this was through absence or disapproval. In June 1657 Smyth was again active in the House, contributing to debates about assessment rates and the Scottish franchise, and attending the committee on the pardon of the earl of Callander and Lord Cranston.37Burton’s Diary, ii. 219, 251; CJ vii. 554a, 557a, 557b; NLS, MS 7032, f. 97. In the latter, he defended the record of the Scottish council on the rehabilitation of former royalists, seconding Samuel Disbrowe by saying that ‘I know the council are as careful of admitting persons into trust as possibly can be’.38Burton’s Diary, ii. 308.

With the closure of the sitting, Smyth returned to Edinburgh, where he was re-appointed as judge of the exchequer and commissioner for the administration of justice in August 1657.39NLS, MS 7032, ff. 100v, 106v. He returned to England during the winter of 1657-8, where he advised the younger laird of Glenorchy about his hopes of securing a marriage with the niece of Robert Rich, 2nd earl of Warwick.40NRS, GD112/39/102/7. In the spring of 1658 Smyth (probably acting on behalf of Monck) joined Bulstrode Whitelocke* and other leading lawyers in deciding the case of the earl of Abercorn, whose claims to the Hamilton estates had involved him a year before.41CSP Dom. 1658, p. 354; Whitelocke, Diary, 462; CJ vii. 485b. Legal duties called Smyth back to Scotland in the summer of 1658, and it was while on circuit at Inverness that Smyth fell ill and died. His will, made a day before his death, and witnessed by the governor of Inverness, Colonel Thomas Fitch* and a few local gentlemen, attests to the suddenness of his demise. Smyth left a widow and four daughters, whose affairs he commended to his brother-in-law, Robert Tichborne, and two other prominent London merchants, John Bathhurst (who had married Smyth’s sister) and Hamond Ward.42PROB11/286/245. After attending the burial on 12 October in the churchyard of Holyrood Kirk in Edinburgh, Monck told Thurloe that Smyth was ‘a very honest man; his death is much lamented by the Scots as well as the English’.43TSP vii. 434-6, 449; Nicoll, Diary, 219. Some among the Scots, especially Johnston of Wariston, were not sorry to see Smyth dead. Even before the judge’s body had been interred, Wariston wrote to Thurloe advising him to choose a Scot as a replacement – prompting a swift response from Monck and Disbrowe, who feared that this would destroy the ‘balance’ of the central law-courts, and put too much power into the hands of the Protester faction.44Bodl. Rawl. A.61, f. 271; TSP vii. 435, 449.