only daughter of T. Warington of Naples, and by her had a large family. One of his sons, Sir Warington Wilkinson Smyth [q. v.], is separately noticed; another, Charles Piazzi Smyth, was for many years astronomer-royal for Scotland; a third is General Sir Henry Augustus Smyth, K.C.M.G. One of his daughters, Georgiana Rosetta, is the wife of Sir William Henry Flower, K.C.B., F.R.S., director of the British (Natural History) Museum.
[Gent. Mag. 1865, ii. 784; O'Byrne's Nav. Biogr. Dict.; Annual Report of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1866; Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, 1866; Fraser's Mag. 1866, i. 392; United Service Mag. 1865, iii. 272; Buckingham Archæological Society's Records, 1867, vol. iii.]
SMYTHE. [See also Smith and Smyth.]
SMYTHE, DAVID, Lord Methven (1746–1806), Scottish judge, son of David Smythe of Methven, and Mary, daughter of James Graham of Braco, was born on 17 Jan. 1746. Having studied for the law, he was admitted advocate on 4 Aug. 1769. Smythe was raised to the bench, in succession to Francis Garden of Gardenstone, on 15 Nov. 1793, taking the title of Lord Methven. He was appointed a commissioner of justiciary on the death of Lord Abercromby, 11 March 1796, but resigned that office in 1804. He died at Edinburgh on 30 Jan. 1806. Lord Methven was credited with the highest integrity as a judge and an excellent understanding.
He married, first, on 8 April 1772, Elizabeth, only daughter of Sir Robert Murray, bart., of Hillhead; she died on 30 June, 1785, leaving three sons and four daughters. By his second wife, Euphemia, daughter of Mungo Murray of Lintrose, who was reckoned one of the beauties of her time and was the subject of one of Burns's songs, he had two sons and two daughters. Smythe was succeeded in the estate by Robert Smythe, only surviving son of his first marriage; but as Robert died in 1847 without issue, the succession fell to the elder son of the second marriage, William Smythe (1805–1895) of Methven Castle.
[Brunton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice, p. 541; Scots Mag. for 1806, p. 159.]
SMYTHE, GEORGE AUGUSTUS FREDERICK PERCY SYDNEY, seventh Viscount Strangford and second Baron Penshurst (1818–1857), eldest son of Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, sixth viscount [q. v.], was born on 13 April 1818 at Stockholm, where his father then resided as minister-plenipotentiary to the court of Sweden. George's early education began at home under the personal guidance of his father, by whose harsh reproofs and excessive indulgence his character was injured. At twelve he went to Eton, his name being entered in the book of Dr. John Keate, the headmaster, on 8 July 1830. Twice during his five years' stay he was threatened with expulsion. Upon quitting Eton in July 1835, when seventeen, he went to read for several months under the Rev. Julius Hare at Hurstmonceaux Rectory, by way of preparation for Cambridge. He was admitted on 29 Jan. 1836 to St. John's College as a fellow-commoner; his kinsman and godfather, the Duke of Northumberland, helping to defray his expenses at the university. He took an effective part in the debates of the Cambridge Union, and formed many close friendships. Conspicuous among his intimate associates were Lord John Manners (afterwards Duke of Rutland), Beresford-Hope, Baillie Cochrane (afterwards Lord Lamington), Frank Courtenay, and Lord Lyttelton. In 1840 Smythe, according to the custom then prevailing in regard to fellow-commoners, graduated M.A. jure natalium. Before going to the university he had written both verse and prose in the annuals and in the ‘New Monthly Magazine,’ and his contributions to periodical literature while he was at Cambridge were numerous and promising.
At a by-election on 1 Feb. 1841 he was returned in the tory interest as member for Canterbury. His ancestors, the Sidneys of Penshurst, had long exercised great influence in that constituency. He was on 2 July 1841 returned at the general election with an increased majority. Although he broke down on making his maiden speech, his many brilliant gifts, his handsome presence, his gracious manner, soon secured him a reputation among all parties in the House of Commons.
He became a finished debater, and before the end of his first session Mr. Gladstone is said to have described him as one of the best two young speakers in the House of Commons (cf. Croker Papers, iii. 8, 9; Trevelyan, Life of Macaulay, ii. 133). Smythe's readiness of retort involved him in at least three serious quarrels with fellow-members of parliament, one with John Arthur Roebuck [q. v.] in April 1844.
Smythe soon associated himself with the active and ambitious section of the conservatives, which was known as the Young England party
