William Smarte

William Smarte (ca. 1530 – 23 September 1599), of Ipswich, Suffolk, was an English merchant and landowner.

William father was Richard Smart(e), a draper in the parish of St Mary-le-Tower, Ipswich, who had held the political office of Bailiff in Ipswich.. His mother was Richard's wife, Katherine Went. When his father died in 1560 William inherited four manors in Essex and Suffolk.

Career The first role he took as an office holder for the corporation was as treasurer, 1560-1. He was elected a portman in 1565 and was elected bailiff five times from 1569 to 1594.

Charitable endowments He made a substantial endowment to the almshouses in Ipswich in 1591, which then became known as the Tooley's and Smart's Almshouses.

On his death in 1599 he gave a number of medieval manuscripts, originally from the abbey of Bury St Edmunds, to Pembroke College, Cambridge.