Author: Smith, James
Biography:
SMITH, James (1775-1839: ODNB)
He was the second of eight children born in London to Protestant dissenters, Mary (Bogle) Smith and Robert Smith, a lawyer who in 1782 was appointed assistant to the solicitor to the Board of Ordnance--second largest of the departments of government in those days, but to be disbanded in 1855. Like his younger brother Horatio (q.v.) he was well educated but did not attend university. James Smith became a lawyer: he was articled to his father in 1792 and succeeded him as solicitor to the Ordnance in 1832. Literature, the theatre, and social life occupied the time not given to his profession; he lived as a bachelor in his house in the Strand. His collaborations with Horatio in Rejected Addresses (1812) and Horace in London (1813) are by far his best-known work but he also collaborated with the actor Charles Mathews in some comic entertainments and was a regular contributor to periodicals. He suffered from gout but died at home after a long bout of "influenza" in 1839 and is buried in St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Horatio saw to the publication of his Memoirs, Letters, and Comic Miscellanies in 1840. (ODNB 24 Sept. 2020) HJ
Other Names:
- J. Smith