Author: Smith, Michael
Biography:
SMITH, Michael (1719-73: ancestry.com)
The son of a merchant, Robert Smith, he was baptised at St. Nicholas, Durham, Durham, on 27 July 1719; his mother’s name is not given. From school in Durham he went up to Emmanuel College, Cambridge (matric. 1737, BA 1740/41, Fellow 1743, MA 1744). He served his college as proctor in 1757 and as scrutator in 1759, and left it £700 in his will. He went into the church, being ordained deacon in 1742 and priest in 1746. In some legal documents he is referred to as DD but that degree is not mentioned in ACAD or CCEd, nor did he claim more than an MA on the title-page of his one known publication, Christianity Unmasqued (1771). He was vicar of Little St. Mary’s, Cambridge (1759); of Freckenham, Suffolk (1759-73); and of South Mimms, Middlesex (1772-3). He died unmarried at Freckenham and was buried there on 7 May 1773; ACAD records his burial in the cloister of Emmanuel College, which is either a reburial or a memorial inscription only. His will named his brother Ralph as one of two executors of an estate worth £1600. (ancestry.com 7 Nov. 2024; findmypast.com 7 Nov. 2024; ACAD; CCEd 7 Nov. 2024) HJ