Robert Smith

Smith was partner in his father’s banking firm, Smith, Payne & Co., and inherited his position as head upon his father’s death. He served as MP for Nottingham in five successive terms. He befriended William Pitt the Younger during this time, and Pitt awarded him with Baron Carrington of Bulcot Lodge in the peerage of Ireland, and of Upton Nottinghamshire later on. He was known to be generous in donating his wealth, giving money to benefit the poor at Olney and to King’s College London during its establishment. Pitt also appointed him captain of Deal, and he became lieutenant-colonel of the Cinque Port volunteers in Deal. He supported Lord Grenville after Pitt’s death before returning to ‘mainstream’ Toryism. Smith voted in favour of abolition alongside his first cousin William Wilberforce in the first unsuccessful vote. However, Smith himself owned a plantation. After the Slave Compensation Act, he was awarded compensation associated with Farm Pen plantation, Jamaica.