Hodgetts (see Evans, Catalogue of Engraved Portraits, vol. ii.)
Smyth was the author of: 1. ‘Instructions and Standing Orders for the Royal Engineer Department serving with the Army on the Continent,’ 8vo, London, 1815. 2. ‘Plans of the Attacks upon Antwerp, Bergen-op-Zoom, Cambray, Péronne, Maubeuge, Landrecy, Marienbourg, Phillipville, and Rocroy, by the British and Prussian Armies in 1814–1815, with Explanatory Remarks, dedicated to the Duke of Wellington,’ fol. Cambrai, 1817. 3. ‘Questions and Answers relative to the Duties of the Non-commissioned Officers and Men of the Royal Sappers and Miners,’ 8vo, Cambrai, 1817. 4. ‘Chronological Epitome of the Wars in the Low Countries from the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 to that of Paris in 1815, with Reflections, Military and Political,’ 8vo, London, 1825. 5. ‘Précis of the Wars in Canada from 1755 to the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, with Military and Political Reflections,’ 8vo, London, 1826 (printed for official use only); a second edition, edited by his son, with a memoir of the author, was published, 8vo, London, 1862. 6. ‘Reflections upon the Value of the British West Indian Colonies and of the British North American Provinces in 1825,’ 8vo, London, 1826. 7. ‘Memoir upon the Topographical System of Colonel van Gorkeran, with Remarks and Reflections upon various other Methods of representing Ground, addressed to Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Taylor, Surveyor-General of H. M. Ordnance,’ 8vo, London, 1828. 8. ‘Letter to a Member of the Bahamas Assembly upon the subject of Flogging Female Slaves,’ pamphlet, 8vo, Nassau, Bahamas, 1831.
[Despatches; Royal Engineers’ Records; Royal Artillery Records; War Office Records; Anderson's Scottish Nation; Gent. Mag. 1838, ii. 112; Ann. Reg. 1838; Porter's History of the Corps of Royal Engineers; Conolly's History of the Royal Sappers and Miners; Sperling's Letters of an Officer … from the British Army in Holland, Belgium, and France, to his Father; Memoir in preface to 1862 edition of Précis of the Wars in Canada; Demerary, Transition de l'Esclavage à la Liberté, par Félix Milliroux, 1843.]
SMYTH, Sir JOHN ROWLAND (d. 1873), lieutenant-general, was fifth son of Grice Smyth of Ballynatray, co. Waterford, by Mary, daughter and coheiress of H. Mitchell of Mitchellsfort, co. Cork. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was commissioned as cornet in the 16th lancers on 5 July 1821. He was promoted lieutenant on 26 May 1825, and in the following year was present at the capture of Bhartpur (18 Jan.). On 22 April he was made captain on the half-pay list, from which he exchanged to the 32nd foot on 29 Nov. 1827. After ten years' service in that regiment, mostly in Canada, he returned to half-pay on 6 April 1838, and exchanged from it to the 6th dragoon guards (Carabiniers) on 10 May 1839.
On 17 Aug. 1841 he obtained a half-pay majority, and on 6 May 1842 he returned to his old regiment, the 16th lancers. He served with it in the Gwalior campaign of 1843, commanding the advanced wing of cavalry at Maharajpur, and in the Sutlej campaign of 1846, during which he was in command of the regiment. It greatly distinguished itself at Aliwal by routing the Sikh cavalry and breaking up a square of infantry, Smyth being severely wounded while leading it. He was mentioned in despatches, and was made brevet lieutenant-colonel and C.B. He received the medal and clasp for this campaign, having already received the medal and clasp for Bhartpur and the bronze star for Maharajpur.
Smyth was lieutenant-colonel of the 16th lancers from 10 Dec. 1847 till 2 Nov. 1855, when he exchanged to half-pay. He had been given one of the rewards for distinguished service on 1 June 1854, and had been made colonel in the army on 20 June. He became major-general on 22 Dec. 1860, and lieutenant-general on 1 April 1870, and was given the colonelcy of the 6th dragoon guards on 21 Jan. 1868.
Smyth died at Kensington on 14 May 1873. He married Catherine, daughter of the first Lord Tenterden, and had one daughter, who married the fourth Lord Tenterden.
[Times, 17 May 1873; Burke's Landed Gentry; Despatches of Lord Hardinge, Lord Gough, &c., p. 79.]
SMYTH, JOHN TALFOURD (1819?–1851), engraver, was born in Edinburgh about 1819, and, after studying for a time at the Trustees' Academy there, devoted himself to line engraving. Though practically self-taught in this art, he was eventually able to produce plates of great merit. His earliest published works were ‘A Child's Head’ after Sir J. Watson Gordon, and ‘The Stirrup Cup’ after Sir William Allan. In 1838 he removed to Glasgow, but, after residing there a few years, returned to Edinburgh, where he worked with extreme industry during the remainder of his life. Smyth engraved for the London ‘Art Journal’ Wilkie's ‘John Knox dispensing the Sacrament,’ Ary Scheffer's ‘The Comforter,’ Mulready's ‘The Last in,’ and Allan's ‘Banditti dividing
