Abel Smith of Woodhall Park

(SOURCE: Wikipedia) Abel Smith (17 July 1788-23 February 1859) was a longtime British Member of Parliament.

He was the eighth child but eldest son of Samuel Smith, also a Member of Parliament, and nephew of Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington.

The family had grown wealthy through banking in Nottingham.

SMITH, Abel (1788-1859), of Woodhall Park, Herts.

"Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer"

Abel Smith entered Parliament in 1810 as member for Malmesbury, and subsequently also represented Wendover and Midhurst, [both pocket boroughs controlled by his uncle Lord Carrington] sitting in the Commons for 20 of the last 22 years before the Great Reform Act.

He and his father were Wendover's last MPs, as they sat together as its members for the last two years before the borough's abolition.[1]

Three years after the Reform Act, he was elected as MP for Hertfordshire, and served another twelve years.

He was High Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1849.

Smith married Frances Anne Calvert, the daughter of General Sir Harry Calvert.[2] Children: Mary, Elizabeth Frances, Adelaide, Lucy, Sophia, Caroline, Abel (also became MP for Hertfordshire), Robert, Phillip and Albert.

Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

DE/AS 1-4898 - Manorial records, title deeds and family papers of the Abel Smith family of the Woodhall Park Estate, Hertfordshire, 1139 - 1917