Frederic Chatfield Smith
(1823-1905)
10 May 1862
Volume 6, page 292, sitting number 8039.
[The sitter is identified as ‘F.C. Smith, Esq.’ in the Silvy daybooks. The portrait was acquired at the same time as portraits of his aunt and uncle, Lady Lucy Smith and Henry Smith.]
Born at Palmers Green in North London on 11 June 1823, Frederic Chatfield Smith was the second son of the banker Samuel George Smith. His great-grandfather, Abel Smith, was one of the leading bankers of the eighteenth century.
On 3 June 1858 at All Souls in Langham Place, Marylebone, he married Harriet Matilda Pym, daughter of Francis Pym of The Hasells (Hasells Hall), Sandy, Bedfordshire. The marriage produced twelve children; ten were still living at the time of the 1911 census.
The couple appear on the 1861 census living at Bramcote in Nottinghamshire with their two young children, Herbert Francis Smith, aged 1, and a one-month-old daughter who hadn’t been named yet. Frederic gave ‘Banker [and] JP for Notts’ as his profession.
Frederic Chatfield Smith died, aged 81, at Bramcote Hall in Nottinghamshire on 20 April 1905, leaving an estate valued at £400,415.
An extensive obituary appeared in the Nottingham Evening Post (22 April 1905):
‘We regret to record the death, which took place on Thursday, of Mr Frederic Chatfield Smith, J.P., D.L., of Bramcote Hall, Notts., and 33, Chesham-place, London, formerly senior partner in the bank of Messrs. Samuel Smith and Co., of Nottingham and its branches, now amalgamated as the Union of London and Smiths Bank, Limited. The late Mr Smith, who was 81 years of age, was the second son of Mr Samuel George Smith, of Sacombe Park, Hertfordshire, and received his education at Rugby. Upon leaving school, he entered the family bank at Hull, and remained there a year or two before coming to Nottingham. Since that time he was continuously connected with the bank in Nottingham, and was the moving spirit in affairs for many years. He served as Parliamentary representative for the Northern Division of the county for a period of about eleven and a half years. He first came forward as a Conservative candidate on November 21st, 1868, and was returned without contest two days later. […] Upon the occasion of the election referred to, Mr Smith stood in defence of the Irish Church, and his business ability and integrity eminently fitted him to represent the constituency. […] He was appointed High Sheriff of the county in 1884. Although not actually associating himself with city or county administrative affairs, he was known to closely follow the development and progress of Nottingham and the district, and he manifested a warm interest in religious and philanthropic work, being an ever generous subscriber to charitable and other institutions. He was patron of the living of Bramcote with Attenborough, and he exercised a discriminating influence in Church matters. Mr Smith married a daughter of the late Mr Pym, of the Hassles [sic], Bedfordshire, and he had a numerous family. The funeral will take place on Thursday afternoon at Bramcote.’