Cornelius Smelt
Cornelius Smelt | |
---|---|
Lord Henry Murray | |
Succeeded by | John Ready |
Personal details | |
Born | Cornelius Smelt August 1748 |
Died | 28 November 1832 | (aged 84)
Nationality | British |
Spouse(s) | Mary Trant Ottley Anne Hale |
Relations | Leonard Smelt |
Military service | |
Allegiance | American War of Independence |
Cornelius Smelt (August 1748 – 28 November 1832) was an administrator who served as
Biography
Early life
Cornelius Smelt was born in August 1748 in
Military career
Smelt served in the
Governorship of the Isle of Man
On 15 June 1805,
By 1812 the situation between the Duke of Atholl and Governor Smelt resulted in the Duke requesting that Smelt should vacate the Governor's House at Castle Rushen in order that he could reside there whenever he visited the Isle of Man, insisting that Smelt took residence at The George Inn.[1]
Smelt himself when writing to the Home Office in 1812 frankly declared he was:
"disliked in very high degree by the Duke. It had been a necessity on certain occasions to oppose pretensions of the Duke when they have been at issue with the King's rights, leading to decline his [the Duke's] repeated offers which he made a short time ago to induce me to resign my situation of Lieutenant Governor in order that some persons more subservient to his views, and on that account there is great animosity."
— Cornelius Smelt. Castletown, December 6th, 1812.
The Duke persisted in his harsh treatment of Smelt.
"gave a peremptory refusal contrary to all right and precedent to give me as Governor the accommodation of the Governor's House within the walls of Castle Rushen, and without accommodation I cannot attend upon my public duty in health and comfort to meet and provide for the present state of society and the welfare of his Majesty's subjects by such new and suitable provisions and enactments."
— John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl, December 7th, 1812.
The Duke of Atholl concludes by asking for possession of all public documents as well as the house. Smelt replied to
In a letter written by Colonel Mark Wilks to Lord Powys in 1812, it was suggested that Smelt was appointed by the Government in order to:
"extinguish the Duke of Atholl's attempt to make the Duke's brother his Deputy Governor, and that the essence of the same plan has, however, but remained in a dormant state, and are now revived by a pending negotiation for removing this gentleman in order to make room for a dependent of the Duke of Atholl."
— Colonel Mark Wilks, Castletown, 1812.
Colonel Wilks was voicing the opinion of the House of Keys, of which he was a member, when he declared in further correspondence that:
"the people of the Isle would be sorry to object to the removal to a better office of Governor Smelt, an honest and independent man; but they most anxiously pray the good offices of Lord Powys that he [Smelt] may not be succeeded by a person under the influence of the Duke of Atholl."
— Colonel Mark Wilks, Castletown, 1812.
The
"an old soldier and gentleman of the old school - composed, discreet, courteous, affable, yet firm and resolute."
— William Frankland.
In 1816 Frankland was succeeded in the office of
"the Lieutenant Governor had certainly conducted himself with great good temper and singular discretion."
— John Clarke.
Death
Feeling acutely with regard to his health and his position, only seventeen days before his death, on November 11, 1832, Smelt wrote to the Home Secretary asking to be appointed Governor-in-Chief, with a Lieutenant Governor to do the work and permission to stay on in the Governor's House in Castle Rushen.[1] He died in office on 28 November 1832 at Castle Rushen, and was buried under the altar at St Mary's Church in Castletown, his funeral was conducted by the Rector of Ballaugh, the Reverend Hugh Stowell,[1] the oration stating:
"Never since the days of good Bishop Wilson has the Island had to mourn the loss of a more justly esteemed and popular man."
When St Mary's Church was deconsecrated in the 1980s, his body was exhumed and reinterred in the Bacon family vault alongside his daughter at St Peter's Church in Onchan.[10]
Family
In 1785 he married Mary Trant Ottley. Following her death at the age of 34, he married Anne Hale. He had children from both marriages.[2]
Smelt portrait
While Governor Smelt was at the height of his popularity a meeting was held on August 10, 1826, at the George Inn, Castletown, there being present some of the highest officials then residing in Castletown, Chairman of the meeting being Colonel Mark Wilks.[1] At the meeting a resolution was passed to commission a portrait of Governor Smelt, the artist engaged being Thomas Barber; the sum of £52 being raised through subscription.[1] Governor Smelt, however, did not desire that his memory should not be: "transmitted to posterity in this way,[1]" and in a letter addressed to Colonel Wilks he declined having his portrait placed in the Keys Chamber, which was then situated in Parliament Square, Castletown.[1] The portrait was purchased by Capt. Caesar Bacon, husband of Smelt's daughter, and was placed in his home at Seafield, Santon. The portrait stayed in the family until 1925 when it was presented to the Manx Museum.[1]
Smelt Monument
After Smelt's death in 1832, Sir William Hillary proposed that a memorial be built, and it was decided that a column should be erected, with the funds for the painting providing a basis for the funding. Further money was raised, and John Welch, an architect, drew up two designs, one for an obelisk, and the other a Grecian Doric. The latter was chosen, and was built by John Thomas. There was little celebration of the monument, with minimal coverage in the newspapers of the time. A tongue-in-cheek proposal by the Castletown Commissioners to remove the monument in 2009 drew an angry reaction from the public.[11]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Journal of The Manx Museum, Wednesday, December 01, 1937; Page: 9
- ^ a b c Frances Coakley (ed.). "Cornelius Smelt, Lieutenant Governor 1805–1832". Manx Note Book. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
- ^ "No. 11227". The London Gazette. 29 February 1772. p. 1.
- ^ "No. 11681". The London Gazette. 6 July 1776. p. 1.
- ^ "No. 12903". The London Gazette. 14 July 1787. p. 1.
- ^ James Boswell, ed. (1787). The Scots magazine. Vol. 49. Edinburgh: Murray and Cochrane. p. 364.
- ^ "No. 15815". The London Gazette. 11 June 1805. p. 773.
- ^ "Constitutional development". Isle of Man Courts of Justice. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
- ^ "No. 15855". The London Gazette. 26 October 1805. p. 1330.
- ^ G.E. Cokayne (2000) [1910–1959]. Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, H.A.; White, Geoffrey H.; Warrand, Duncan; de Walden, Lord Howard (eds.). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant. Vol. IV. Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing. p. 390.
- ^ "Proposition to remove the Smelt Monument a 'joke'". iomtoday.co.im. Isle of Man Newspapers. 11 February 2009. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2011.