Abel Henry Smith

Colonel Abel Henry Smith (6 December 1862 – 10 November 1930)[1] was a British Conservative Party politician and an English landowner of the Smith banking family.

Smith was the son of Abel Smith (1829–1898), from whom he inherited the large estate of Woodhall Park, near Watton-at-Stone in Hertfordshire.[2] Over a dozen of his ancestors had sat in the House of Commons over the preceding century.

At the 1892 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Christchurch. He was re-elected in 1895, but at the 1900 general election he stood instead in the Hertford constituency which had been represented by his father until his death in 1898. He won the 1900 election, and held the seat until he stood down at the general election in January 1910.[3]

After his death in 1930, the contents of the family's stately home were dispersed, and the building rented out.[2]

References

  1. ^ "House of Commons constituencies beginning with "C" (part 4)". Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages. http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Ccommons4.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-24. 
  2. ^ a b "History of the Woodhall estate". Woodhall estate website. http://www.woodhallestate.co.uk/About.asp?S=2&Page=3. Retrieved 2009-04-24. 
  3. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 295, 402. ISBN 0-900178-27-2. 

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Charles Edward Baring Young
Member of Parliament for Christchurch
18921900
Succeeded by
Kenneth Robert Balfour
Preceded by
Evelyn Cecil
Member of Parliament for Hertford
1900January 1910
Succeeded by
Sir John Rolleston