There are no fewer than half-a-dozen branches of the Smith family upon whose coat of arms appear the three demi-griffins that are part of the Carington bearings. There are the Smiths of Woodhall, the Smiths of Sacombe, the Smiths of Selsdon, the Smiths of Dale Park, the Dorrien-Smiths of Tresco Abbey, and the Smiths of Edwalton, who merged into Pauncefotes, of Preston. These are all lineal descendants of a John Smith, of Cropwell Butler, a substantial yeoman who purchased a farm in that South Nottinghamshire village in 1622, from Sir Thomas Hutchinson, of Owthorpe.This, the earliest member of the family of whom there is any record, is supposed to have been the fifth son of George Smith, of Ashby Folville, in Leicestershire, a family of some importance.

This, however, is only a matter of conjecture, and therefore not to be taken into account in tracing the descent of the family. The purchaser of Sir Thomas Hutchinson’s farm died in 1641, while his eldest son Thomas was yet a minor. The child was placed under the guardianship of a Mr. Burrows, of Nottingham, by whom he was probably apprenticed to Lawrence Collin, a mercer, and a man of note in the town at that time. In 1658 this Thomas Smith bought some premises at the corner of Peck Lane, where he originally carried on the business of a mercer, and at a later period he added a Bank. Here, then, we have the origin of the oldest country Banking House in England, with which the name of Smith has for generations been connected. The precise date of the establishment of Smith’s Bank is not ascertainable, but it was somewhere about the year 1688, during the lifetime of Thomas Smith.

Some twelve years after the foundation of the Bank Thomas Smith died, having been twice married, first to Mary, daughter of John Hooper, of Somerset; and secondly to the daughter of his old master, Lawrence Collin, of Nottingham. During his lifetime he had amassed a large fortune, and he died in 1699 possessed of a good deal of landed property, including an Estate at Gaddesby in Leicestershire, which a short time before belonged to the Carington-Smiths, of Ashby Folville, the adjoining Parish. His eldest son, Thomas, succeeded him in the Banking business, which had largely developed during the lifetime of its founder, and had now reached some magnitude.

In 1717 Mr. Thomas Smith, who had a large stake in Leicestershire, was High Sheriff of that County, and in this year the heraldic arms of the family were granted. Thomas Smith carried on the Bank at Nottingham until his death. in 1727, and he was succeeded by his two brothers Samuel and Abel, the former a citizen and goldsmith of London, and of Ashfordby, Leicestershire, and the other of East Stoke, in this county. In addition to the Gaddesby estate Mr. Thomas Smith owned the Manor of Broxtowe, in Nottinghamshire, which was his principal residence. At his death these two estates were sold and the proceeds divided amongst his five daughters. The brother, Samuel, who, as already intimated, became a citizen and goldsmith of London, died intestate in 1751, when his large personal property, amounting to two hundred and forty thousand pounds was divided amongst six children. The younger brother, Abel, remained in Nottingham, and carried on the Bank there. His eldest Son, George, of East Stoke, was created a Baronet in 1757, and the honour passed to the ancestors of Sir Henry Bromley, who now owns that estate. The younger son, Abel, applied himself sedulously to the business of banking, and threw into it a spirit of enterprise which resulted in the very considerable extension of the concern. In or about the year 1757 he established the London Bank, and soon after the Lincoln and Hull Banks, which with one at Derby established, I believe, at a later date, represent the great banking concern belonging to this wealthy and influential family. This enterprising and successful banker and financier represented Aldborough, St. Ives, and St. Germains, in successive Parliaments. His sons were Abel, of Wilford, Nottingharnshire, once M.P. for Nottingham, who died at the age of thirty-one, and whose grandchild Emily, married the late Bishop Wilberforce; Robert, who was created Baron Carrington; Samuel, of Woodhall, Hertfordshire, formerly M.P. for Leicester, and other Sons. Since the establishment of the London bank the elder branches of the Smith family have migrated to the southern counties, and they now hold large estates in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, and Surrey. They have no estate of importance in Nottinghamshire, though they have been connected with the county for upwards of two hundred years. Mr. Frederic Chatfield Smith, of Bramcote Hall, the head of the Nottingham bank, and a magistrate and deputy-lieutenant for the county of his adoption, belongs to the Smiths of Sacombe, one of the six branches into which this large family is divided. He is the second of the four sons of Mr. Samuel George Smith, of Goldings, Hertfordshire. At one time three of these sons were Members of Parliament, and met on the Conservative side of the House of Commons. These were Mr. S. G. Smith, the elder brother, who represented Aylesbury; Mr. F. C. Smith, who represented North Nottinghamshire; and Mr. Rowland Smith, of Duffield Hall, who represented the Southern division of Derbyshire, for which county he is a magistrate and was High Sheriff, in 1877. The younger brother, who resides at Broxbournbury, in Hertfordshire, assumed by Royal licence the additional surname Bosanquet, that being the name of his father-in-law.