SMI SMI
chant, and an alderman of London.
According to one account he was living in
1683, aged 73. His town residence was in
St. John's, Clerkenwell ; his country seat,
Weald Hall, in Essex. He married a
daughter of Lord Coleraine, and had
three (laughters and six sons, all of whom
died without issue, except Hugh, who suc-
ceeded to his father's estates. There is a
portrait of Erasmus Smith in Christ's Hos-
pital, London. He was one of the adventu-
rers under the Ci'omwellian settlement, and
was granted in return for his "adventure"
of ^300, 666 plantation acres in the barony
of Clanwilliam, and County of Tipperary.
This must, however, have been but a small
portion of his landed property in Ireland,
as in 1657 he by deed made over 13,000
acres in different counties, for the forma-
tion and endowment of grammar schools
in Ireland. The trustees being all Non-
conformists — "men after Cromwell's own
heart " — were unable to execute their
functions after the Restoration ; and, in
1669, on Erasmus Smith's petition, a new
charter was granted, placing the schools
practically under Episcopal supervision.
It cannot be clearly ascertained whether the
donor himself was a Churchman or a Dis-
senter. The future visitation and govern-
ment of the schools founded by him was
entrusted to a board of thirty-two gover-
nors, with the power of electing their
successors. When the Endowed Schools
Commission enquired into his foundations
in 1857, they numbered 4 grammar schools,
and 140 English schools, in diflferent parts
of Ireland ; having 7,170 children on the
roUa, and an average attendance of 4,357.
The nett income from lands and investments
was £8, 1 62. After paying £600 a year for
exhibitions to Trinity College, and £100 to
Christ's Hospital, £7,462 was available for
the support of the schools. Full particulars
regarding their condition and management,
will be found in the report of the before-
mentioned Commission. It is much to be
regretted that so few particulars are attain-
able concerning the life of one who was
such a benefactor to Ireland. '^ "s: 254(2)
307:
Smith, James, one of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence in 1776, was born in Ireland about the year 1720. His father emigrated to America in 1 729, and settled as a farmer on the Susquehanna. James was edu- cated at the College of Philadelphia, studied law, and for a time resided near Shippensburg as a lawyer and sur- veyor, but afterwards removed to York, •where he continued to practise his pro- fession the remainder of his life. He was
esteemed a man of education and refinement.
In 1774 he raised the first volunteer
company in the State, for the purpose of
resisting the domination of Great Britain,
and he was a member of the convention to
consider the expediency of abstaining from
the importation of British goods, and of
assembling a general congress. His essay
on The Constitutional Power of Great
Britain over the Colonies in America is said
to have given the first strong impulse to
the revolution in his district. He was a
member of the Pennsylvania Convention of
January 1775, and of the Provincial Con-
ference of 1 8th June, where he seconded
Dr. Rush's resolution in favour of a declaration
of independence. He was a member
of Congress until November 1778, and
in 1780 had a seat in the General Assembly
of Pennsylvania. Drake says: "He was
a man of great wit, and possessed of an
original species of drollery, which was
heightened by an uncouthness of gesture,
a certain ludicrous cast of countenance,
and a drawling mode of utterance." He
died at York, Pennsylvania, nth July
1806, aged about 86. ^'
Smith, Sir William Cusack, Bart., Baron of the Court of Exchequer, was bom in Ireland, 23rd January 1 766. He studied at the University of Oxford, spend- ing his vacations with his friend, Edmund Burke, at Beaconsfield, or at his house in London. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1 788; in 1795, obtained the rank of King's Counsel ; and the same year was returned to Parliament for the borough of Donegal. He gave his firm support to all government measures, including the Union, and in 1800 was appointed Solicitor- General. Two years afterwards, on his father's appointment as Master of the Rolls, he took his place as a Baron of the Exchequer ; and on his father's death in 1808, succeeded to a baronetcy. In 1834, on account of the expression of some strong political sentiments while on the Bench, an unsuccessful attempt was made in Parlia- ment to have him removed. He died at Newtown, near Tullamore, 21st August 1836, aged 70, and was buried at Geas- hill. The Gentleman's Magazine observes: "His decisions were distinguished by clear- ness, vigour, and promptitude. . . In a refined and classical taste, and in a chaste and graceful style of oratory. Baron Smith peculiarly excelled. It was not on the Bench alone that heshone forth asoneof the brightest luminaries of his age and country. As a political and philosophical writer, he was equally distinguished. . . In pri- vate life he was equally admirable. . . In politics he leaned to the constitutional 48s
