Cornelius Smelt

Cornelius Smelt

Painting of Cornelius Smelt.

1826 portrait by Thomas Barber.
5th Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man
In office
1805–1832
Monarch George III
George IV
William IV
Preceded by Lord Henry Murray
Succeeded by John Ready
Personal details
Born Cornelius Smelt
August 1748
Died 28 November 1832
Nationality British
Spouse(s) Mary Trant Ottley
Anne Hale
Military service
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Rank Colonel
Unit 14th Regiment of Foot
35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot

Cornelius Smelt (August 1748 – 28 November 1832) was an administrator who served as Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man from 1805 until his death in 1832. An officer in the British Army, he served first with the 14th Regiment of Foot and then the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot, acting as Deputy Governor of Southsea Castle in the late 18th century. Upon his death, a memorial was erected in Castletown in the Isle of Man.

Career

Smelt was born in August 1748 in Upper Swaledale, Yorkshire, as the second son of William Smelt and Dorothy Cayley.[1] He served in the British Army, beginning his career with the 14th Regiment of Foot, and was promoted to Lieutenant on 2 March 1772.[2] Four years later, on 9 July 1776, he was gazetted to the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot.[3] On 17 July 1787, as a Captain, he was assigned as Deputy Governor of Southsea Castle.[4][5] On 15 June 1805,[6] Smelt was the first royally appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man;[7] his political liberalism was seen as a balance for the Dukes of Atholl, who ruled the Isle of Man first as Kings of Mann, then Lords of Mann, and durings Smelt's time, Governors of the Isle of Man. He was appointed as "Inspecting Field-Officer of Fencibles and Volunteers in the Isle of Man" on 26 October 1805, granting him the temporary rank of Lieutenant Colonel.[8] He acted as a restraining influence on some of the modernising ambitions of John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl, the last Governor.[1] He died in office on 28 November 1832 at Castle Rushen, and was buried under the altar at St Mary's Church in Castletown. When that church was deconsecrated in the 1980s, his body was exhumed and reinterred in the Bacon family vault alongside his daughter at St Peter's Church in Onchan.[9]

Family

In 1785 he married Mary Trant Ottley. Following her death at the age of 34, he married Anne Hale. He had children from both marriages.[1]

Smelt Monument

During Smelt's lifetime, a fund was raised for a portrait to be painted of the Lieutenant Governor; Smelt was against the idea, but it was painted by Thomas Barber in 1826, although not with the money raised.[10] After Smelt's death in 1832, Sir William Hillary proposed that a memorial be built, and it was decided that a column should be erected, with the funds for the painting providing a basis for the funding. Further money was raised, and John Welch, an architect, drew up two designs, one for an obelisk, and the other a Grecian Doric. The latter was chosen, and was built by John Thomas. There was little celebration of the monument, with minimal coverage in the newspapers of the time.[10] A tongue-in-cheek proposal by the Castletown Commissioners to remove the monument in 2009 drew an angry reaction from the public.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Frances Coakley (ed.). "Cornelius Smelt, Lieutenant Governor 1805–1832". Manx Note Book. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  2. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 11227. p. 1. 29 February 1772. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  3. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 11681. p. 1. 6 July 1776. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  4. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 12903. p. 1. 14 July 1787. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  5. ↑ James Boswell, ed. (1787). The Scots magazine 49. Edinburgh: Murray and Cochrane. p. 364.
  6. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 15815. p. 773. 11 June 1805. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  7. ↑ "Constitutional development". Isle of Man Courts of Justice. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  8. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 15855. p. 1330. 26 October 1805. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  9. ↑ G.E. Cokayne (2000) [1910–1959]. Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, H.A.; White, Geoffrey H.; Warrand, Duncan; de Walden, Lord Howard, eds. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant IV. Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing. p. 390.
  10. 1 2 "Historic puzzles in Castletown Market Square". iomtoday.co.im (Isle of Man Newspapers). 3 March 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  11. ↑ "Proposition to remove the Smelt Monument a 'joke'". iomtoday.co.im (Isle of Man Newspapers). 11 February 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
Government offices
Preceded by
Lord Henry Murray		 Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man
1805–1832 		Succeeded by
John Ready
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