Author: Smith, William Cusack
Biography:
SMITH, William Cusack (1766-1836: DIB)
Baptised William Smith, he took the name William Cusack Smith in 1800. His parents were William Smith, a prominent Dublin barrister and politician, and his wife, Mary Cusack, a Catholic heiress. He studied at Eton College before matriculating at Christ Church, Oxford, on 26 Nov. 1783. He entered Lincoln’s Inn in 1784, graduated BA in 1786, was called to the Irish bar in 1788, earned his Doctor of Laws from Trinity College Dublin in 1793, and was made King’s Counsel in 1794—the same year that he entered the Irish parliament as MP for Lanesborough, County Donegal. He married Hester Berry on 13 Aug. 1787. They had two sons and two daughters; one son was to become Attorney-General for Ireland. His father was made a baronet in 1799 and William Smith succeeded to the title on his father’s death in 1808. Smith had an illustrious career as a liberal politician; he supported Catholic emancipation and the 1800 Act of Union (to which initially he had been opposed). He advanced rapidly, becoming Solicitor General in 1800, a deputy judge of assize, and, in 1801, Baron of the Exchequer. In 1802 he was appointed to the bench of King’s Inns, Dublin, and was considered an impartial if eccentric judge. His political writings—mainly pamphlets and letters—are extensive. In later life he also published philosophical works using various pseudonyms: E. Barton, Paul Puck Peeradeal, and Warner Christian Search. A book of verse, The Goblins of Neapolis, appeared in 1836 as by P. P. Peeradeal. In Aug. 1836 he became ill at the family home of Newtown House, Geashill, King’s County (Offaly); although he seemed initially to recover, he died on 26 Aug. and was buried in the cemetery at Geashill. His extensive library was sold in Apr. 1837 by the Dublin auctioneer Charles Sharpe. (ODNB 15 Nov. 2021; DIB 15 Nov. 2021; WorldCat; Saunders’s Newsletter 1 Apr. 1837)