SMITHSON, Hugh (?1661-1740), of Tottenham High Cross, Mdx. and Armin, Yorks.

Smithson, who had inherited estates worth £3,000 p.a. in Middlesex and Yorkshire,Duke of Leeds to Duke of Somerset, 9 Jan. 1740, Duke of Northumberland’s mss at Alnwick. was a Tory and a member of the October Club. Re-elected for Middlesex in 1715, he voted against the Administration in all recorded divisions but did not stand again. In July 1740, when his cousin and heir, Sir Hugh Smithson, was about to marry Lady Elizabeth Seymour, her grandfather, the 6th Duke of Somerset, insisted that the Tottenham and Armin estates should be included in the marriage settlement. This Smithson refused to do, declaring,

it was true he was no duke, nor boasted of any such great alliances; but that in point of honourable dealing he would yield to no man. That he had given his word that he would leave certain of his estates to Sir Hugh Smithson, and that was sufficient; and he would not be tied down by any lawyers.Cowslade’s jnl., ibid.

He died shortly afterwards, 4 Sept. 1740, leaving his estates to Sir Hugh.