Thomas Smith II
Mayor of Oxford 1638/9 and 1643/4
Thomas Smith II (or Smyth or Smythe) (1601–1646) was the eldest son of Oliver Smith (three times Mayor of Oxford) and his first wife Anne Bussy; and grandson of Thomas Smith (four times Mayor). He was baptised at St Aldate’s Church on 11 December 1604, when it appears that he would have been three years old. His mother died in April 1609 when he was eight.
Smith started off his working life as a cook at Christ Church. On 13 January 1622/3, as soon as he reached the age of 21, Smith was admitted by the University as a brewer of ale and beer. The council granted a lease to "Thomas Smith eldest son of Oliver Smith" of Sidelings or Venneit in St Thomas’s parish, a property of the monastery of St Frideswide.
On 14 October 1622 Smith married Margaret, the daughter and heir of John Wilmot, a baker of St Aldate’s, at that parish church. They had the following children:
- Oliver (born c.1624)
- Christian (baptised at St Aldate’s Church in 1626, buried there in 1628)
- Ann (baptised at St Aldate’s Church in 1628/9)
- Thomas (baptised at St Aldate’s Church in 1631, buried there in 1642)
- John (baptised at St Aldate’s Church in 1633, buried there in March 1658/9),
- Francis (baptised at St Aldate’s Church in 1635)
- Elizabeth (baptised at St Aldate’s Church in 1638)
- William (baptised at St Aldate’s Church in 1640)
- Thomas (baptised at St Aldate’s Church in 1644)
On 18 September 1626 Smith was admitted free and immediately given a Bailiff’s place on the council. In September 1631 he and his younger brother John served as Senior and Junior Bailiffs during their father’s final term as Mayor.
Between 1622 and 1628 Thomas Smith built the main part of the building at 96–7 St Aldate’s (left), now known as "Bishop King’s Palace". It cost the then huge sum of £1,300. The smaller portion had already been bought by the Smiths in 1621. It was one of the largest houses in the city: in 1665 the larger portion contained 13 hearths, and the smaller 9.
When his father Oliver died in 1637, Thomas moved into his old house at 1–2 Brewer Street and sold the large portion of the Old Palace to Unton Croke, M.P. His younger brother John continued to live in the smaller portion.
In April 1637 Smith was elected one of the Thirteen, and in September 1638 was elected Mayor for the first time, nominating John Cosby as his Chamberlain. He was, however, accused by Archbishop Laud of gaining the mayoralty after a canvass of many days, during which the brewer had distributed large quantities of beer. The election was violent and drunken, and in the guildhall was a hogshead of wine, "in so much that they drank wine there in pails and kettles". At the end of his year of office he nominated fellow brewer Walter Cave as his Child.
On 15 August 1642 Smith contributed 6 pounds of powder and three yards of match to the King’s cause. On 16 September that year, his house was searched by the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire for munitions, arms, plate, and money, or scholars hidden there.
On 14 September 1643 Smith was elected an Alderman, taking the oaths and giving "Mr Painton a purse and three halfe pieces and tenne poundes to the City". Just four days after this, Alderman Smith was elected Mayor a second time.
Smith was Lieutenant-Colonel of the City Regiment, and in April 1644 he led this regiment out on Bullingdon and Cowley Green in the presence of the King.
In October 1644 there was a serious fire in the neighbouring parish of St Ebbe’s, and Smith lost much of his business, rendering him almost bankrupt.
In May 1645 Smith was elected Commissioner for Barges.
Smith died at his house in St Aldate’s (Wood describes him as being "of Slaying Lane") on 20 April 1646 when he was 42, and was buried at St Aldate’s Church on 22 April. His youngest child, Thomas, was then only about eighteen months old. His wife and son were forced to sell the family home.
Children of Thomas Smith
- Oliver (c.1624–1667), according to Anthony Wood, was "commonlie called Oliver Smyth junior". He was admitted on to the council in May 1662. He married Margaret, the daughter of Robert Bohun or Boon, deputy recorder of Oxon. He died at the age of 43 "aut eo circiter" at his house in Grandpont on Thursday 14 March 1666/7. His only daughter, aged about 15 when he died, married Henry Evans of New Inn, later curate at Twyford
- Ann (baptised 13 January 1628/9) married George Wake. LL.D, Fellow of Magdalen College and Proctor of the University, afterwards master of the Hospital of Northampton
- William (baptised 6 December 1640) was given a Chamberlain’s place on the Council on 2 November 1612
See also:
- Thomas Smith I, Mayor in 1585/6, 1590/1, 1595/6, 1600/1 (his grandfather)
- Oliver Smith, Mayor in 1619, 1624, and 1631 (his father)
- John Smith, Mayor in 1639 (his brother)
- MS Oxon Wills 307.91
- Strangers in Oxford, pp. 122–123