George Smythe, 7th Viscount Strangford
Sir Robert Peel | |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | The Viscount Canning |
| Succeeded by | Edward Stanley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 April 1818 |
| Died | 23 November 1857 (aged 39) |
| Nationality | British |
George Smythe, 7th Viscount Strangford (16 April 1818 – 23 November 1857), styled The Honourable George Smythe until 1855, was a British
Background and education
Smythe was born in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of Percy Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford, by Ellen Burke, daughter of Sir Thomas Burke. He attended Tonbridge School and Eton College, and was later admitted to St John's College, Cambridge.[1]
Political career
Smythe's father had been Disraeli's friend during the 1830s, and had sponsored the latter for the
Young England finally splintered over the
Like his father, Smythe had literary tastes. In 1844 he wrote Historic Fancies, a collection of poems and essays, and his novel Angelo Pisani was published posthumously, with a memoir of the author in 1875.[3]
Smythe's career was shattered later in 1846 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 (the last such encounter in England),[4] and lost the election in a landslide.
Personal life
Smythe succeeded to his father's peerage in 1855 and died on 27 November 1857 at the relatively young age of 39 at Bradgate House, Groby, Leicestershire. His title passed to his younger brother, Percy Smythe, 8th Viscount Strangford.
References
- ^ "Smythe, George (SMT836GA)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 2)
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Strangford, Viscount s.v. George Augustus Frederick Percy Sydney Smythe". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 983.
- ^ Chisholm 1911.
- OCLC 8047.
