Richard Smith

Brigadier-General Richard Smith (baptised 1734 – 3 July 1803) was Commander-in-Chief, India of the East India Company (Bengal).

Early life He was the eldest son of John Smith, cheesemonger, of Jermyn Street, St. James’s, in what is now central London.

Military career He served in India as an ensign in the Madras Army in 1752, rising to the rank of captain. He was made Brigadier-General in 1768 before retiring in 1770.

Political career In 1774 he went into politics and was briefly elected to Parliament as the member for Hindon, Wiltshire, by spending 15 guineas per vote. On petition the election was declared void due to bribery by the winning candidates. He and his fellow candidate, Thomas Brand Hollis, were prosecuted, fined one thousand marks, and imprisoned for six months. In a rerun of the election Brand Hollis withdrew his name but Smith was re-elected.

He later served as MP for Wendover in 1780 and as MP for Wareham in 1790. and may have served as a "type" for Samuel Foote's 1772 play of that title. He was satirically attacked by a Captain Joseph Price and a portrait of him appeared opposite that of Elizabeth Armistead (one of the favourite courtesans, and eventually the wife, of Charles James Fox) in Town and Country Magazine. He gambled huge amounts, on horses and at cards, and is said to have lost heavily to Fox. The History of Parliament contains a biography both for him, stating that in 1780 he purchased a seat at Wendover for an unnamed son, and for a John Mansell Smith, which says he was the only son of Richard Smith.