George Smythe, 7th Viscount Strangford
Encyclopedia
George Smythe, 7th Viscount Strangford (16 April 1818 – 23 November 1857), styled The Honourable George Smythe until 1855, was a British
Conservative
politician, best known for his association with Benjamin Disraeli and the Young England
movement. He served briefly as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
in 1846 under Sir Robert Peel.
, Sweden
, the son of Percy Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford
, by Ellen Burke, daughter of Sir Thomas Burke, Bt. He attended Tonbridge School
and Eton
.
(along with Lord Chandos
). The younger Smythe believed in the sort of romantic Toryism espoused by Lord John Manners
. Both of them were heavily influenced by Frederick Faber, an apostle of John Henry Newman, leader of the Oxford Movement
. Disraeli and Smythe had known each other through the latter's father since an early age, but it was in the House of Commons
that the two became close. Smythe sat as a Member of Parliament
for Canterbury
from 1841 until 1852, when he was defeated. Along with Disraeli, Manners, and Alexander Baillie-Cochrane, they comprised "Young England", a sect of the Conservative Party which, in espousing a romantic Toryism, was often at odds with the moderate, business-like administration of then-Prime Minister
Sir Robert Peel
.
Young England finally splintered over the Maynooth Grant
. In 1845 Peel proposed to increase the annual subsidy granted to the Catholic seminary
at Maynooth
, in Ireland
. Smythe, possibly under pressure from his father, supported Peel, as did Lord John Manners. Disraeli, then in open rebellion against Peel, opposed the grant. Lord Blake
, Disraeli's biographer, noted that Disraeli's speech was "essentially ad hominem
" and that Disraeli had a "poor case." In January 1846 Smythe accepted minor office in Peel's government as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
. Nevertheless, Smythe and Disraeli apparently remained close friends until the former's death. The title character in Disraeli's novel Coningsby
was modeled after Smythe, and Smythe wrote to Disraeli in 1852 that "you were of old the Cid and Captain of my boyish fanaticism."
Smythe's career was shattered later in the year when he was caught in a summerhouse with the 21-year-old Lady Dorothy Walpole
the daughter of Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford
. Newspaper gossip alleged that he got her pregnant, and then refused to marry her. Lady Dorothy was hastily married off to an elderly cousin. In the nineteenth century social and political ruin often went hand-in-hand. At his last electoral appearance in 1852 Smythe fought a duel with his fellow MP, Colonel Romilly
, and lost in a landslide.
in 1855 and died in November 1857 at the relatively young age of 39. His title passed to his younger brother, Percy Smythe, 8th Viscount Strangford
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician, best known for his association with Benjamin Disraeli and the Young England
Young England
Young England was a Victorian era political group. The group was born on the playing fields of Cambridge and Eton. For the most part, its unofficial membership was confined to a splinter group of Tory aristocrats who had attended public school together, among them George Smythe, Lord John...
movement. He served briefly as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
|The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has been a junior position in the British government since 1782, subordinate to both the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and since 1945 also to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs...
in 1846 under Sir Robert Peel.
Background and education
Smythe was born in StockholmStockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, the son of Percy Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford
Percy Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford
Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford, GCB, GCH was an Anglo-Irish diplomat.-Personal life:He was the son of Lionel Smythe, 5th Viscount Strangford and Mary Eliza Philipse....
, by Ellen Burke, daughter of Sir Thomas Burke, Bt. He attended Tonbridge School
Tonbridge School
Tonbridge School is a British boys' independent school for both boarding and day pupils in Tonbridge, Kent, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judd . It is a member of the Eton Group, and has close links with the Worshipful Company of Skinners, one of the oldest London livery companies...
and Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
.
Political career
Smythe's father had been Disraeli's friend during the 1830s, and had sponsored the latter for the Carlton ClubCarlton Club
The Carlton Club is a gentlemen's club in London which describes itself as the "oldest, most elite, and most important of all Conservative clubs." Membership of the club is by nomination and election only.-History:...
(along with Lord Chandos
Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos KG, GCH, PC, FSA , styled Earl Temple between 1813 and 1822 and Marquess of Chandos between 1822 and 1839, was a British Tory politician...
). The younger Smythe believed in the sort of romantic Toryism espoused by Lord John Manners
John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland
|-...
. Both of them were heavily influenced by Frederick Faber, an apostle of John Henry Newman, leader of the Oxford Movement
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
. Disraeli and Smythe had known each other through the latter's father since an early age, but it was in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
that the two became close. Smythe sat as a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Canterbury
Canterbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Canterbury is a county constituency which has been represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 1918. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
from 1841 until 1852, when he was defeated. Along with Disraeli, Manners, and Alexander Baillie-Cochrane, they comprised "Young England", a sect of the Conservative Party which, in espousing a romantic Toryism, was often at odds with the moderate, business-like administration of then-Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Sir Robert Peel
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
.
Young England finally splintered over the Maynooth Grant
Maynooth Grant
The Maynooth Grant was a major British political controversy of the 1840s which arose partly due to the general anti-Irish and anti-Catholic feelings of the British population....
. In 1845 Peel proposed to increase the annual subsidy granted to the Catholic seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
at Maynooth
Maynooth
Maynooth is a town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to a branch of the National University of Ireland, a Papal University and Ireland's main Roman Catholic seminary, St. Patrick's College...
, in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. Smythe, possibly under pressure from his father, supported Peel, as did Lord John Manners. Disraeli, then in open rebellion against Peel, opposed the grant. Lord Blake
Robert Blake, Baron Blake
Robert Norman William Blake, Baron Blake was an English historian. He is best known for his 1966 biography of Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, and for The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill, which grew out of his 1968 Ford lectures...
, Disraeli's biographer, noted that Disraeli's speech was "essentially ad hominem
Ad hominem
An ad hominem , short for argumentum ad hominem, is an attempt to negate the truth of a claim by pointing out a negative characteristic or belief of the person supporting it...
" and that Disraeli had a "poor case." In January 1846 Smythe accepted minor office in Peel's government as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
|The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has been a junior position in the British government since 1782, subordinate to both the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and since 1945 also to the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs...
. Nevertheless, Smythe and Disraeli apparently remained close friends until the former's death. The title character in Disraeli's novel Coningsby
Coningsby (novel)
Coningsby, or The New Generation, is an English political novel by Benjamin Disraeli published in 1844.-Background:The book is set against a background of the real political events of the 1830s in England that followed the enactment of the Reform Bill of 1832...
was modeled after Smythe, and Smythe wrote to Disraeli in 1852 that "you were of old the Cid and Captain of my boyish fanaticism."
Smythe's career was shattered later in the year when he was caught in a summerhouse with the 21-year-old Lady Dorothy Walpole
Lady Dorothy Nevill
Lady Dorothy Fanny Nevill , was an English writer, hostess, horticulturist and plant collector.She was one of five children of Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford and Mary Fawkener, daughter of William Augustus Fawkener, sometime envoy extraordinary at St Petersburg and close friend of Empress...
the daughter of Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford
Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford
Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Orford , styled Lord Walpole between 1809 and 1822, was a British peer and politician.-Background:...
. Newspaper gossip alleged that he got her pregnant, and then refused to marry her. Lady Dorothy was hastily married off to an elderly cousin. In the nineteenth century social and political ruin often went hand-in-hand. At his last electoral appearance in 1852 Smythe fought a duel with his fellow MP, Colonel Romilly
Frederick Romilly
Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Romilly , was a British Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1850 to 1852 and a cricketer who played for MCC....
, and lost in a landslide.
Personal life
Smythe succeeded to his father's peeragePeerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
in 1855 and died in November 1857 at the relatively young age of 39. His title passed to his younger brother, Percy Smythe, 8th Viscount Strangford
Percy Smythe, 8th Viscount Strangford
Percy Ellen Algernon Frederick William Sydney Smythe, 8th Viscount Strangford was a British nobleman and man of letters....
.