Sir William Bowyer-Smijth, 11th Baronet

Sir William Bowyer-Smijth, 11th Baronet, DL, JP (22 April 1814 – 20 November 1883) was an English cricketer, baronet and Conservative Party politician.

Background Born as William Smijth, he was the oldest son of Sir Edward Bowyer-Smijth, 10th Baronet and his wife Laetitia Cecily Weyland, daughter of John Weyland. On 10 June 1839, his name was changed to Bowyer-Smijth by royal licence.

He was educated at Eton College and went then to Trinity College, Cambridge. Bowyer-Smijth contested South Essex in the 1847 general election unsuccessfully. He entered the British House of Commons in 1852, sitting as a member of parliament (MP) for until 1857. Bowyer-Smijth had a commission as lieutenant in the 19th Essex Rifle Volunteers and served as a Deputy Lieutenant and a Justice of the Peace.

Personal life On 2 April 1839 he married firstly Marianne Frances Meux, second daughter of Sir Henry Meux, 1st Baronet in Cheshunt in Hertfordshire and had by her two sons and a daughter. Bowyer-Smijth later left his wife and pretending to be a widower, he began to court Eliza Fechnie Malcolm, daughter of David Baird Malcolm, who was aged sixteen at that time. Although legitimised under Scottish law by petition in 1918, the English baronetcy and estates could not pass to these children. Bowyer-Smijth died, aged 69 in Twineham Court in Sussex and was succeeded as baronet by his oldest son William of his first marriage, after whose death the title went to his nephew Alfred Bowyer-Smyth.