William Smyth (historian)

William Smyth (1765 in Liverpool – 24 June 1849 in Norwich) was an English poet and historian, who became Regius Professor at Cambridge in 1807.

The son of merchant-banker Thomas Smyth, he was born in Liverpool. After attending a day school in the town, he went to Eton College, where he remained three years. On leaving Eton he read with a tutor at Bury, Lancashire, and in January 1783 he entered Peterhouse, Cambridge., graduating eighth wrangler in 1787. In the same he year was elected to the fellowship vacated by John Wilson. He proceeded to the M.A. in 1790, and returned to Liverpool, but in 1793, after the declaration of war with France, his father's bank failed, and it became necessary for him to earn his living.

Through Edward Morris, a college friend, Smyth was chosen in 1793 by Richard Brinsley Sheridan as tutor to his elder son Thomas. He lived with his pupil at Wanstead, at Bognor, and at Cambridge, and saw much of Sheridan himself; but the relationship was troublesome both personally and financially. When Smyth accompanied his pupil to Cambridge in 1803, he received bills on the Drury Lane Theatre for his expenses. In 1806 Thomas went into the army, and Smyth became tutor of Peterhouse.

In 1807, on the recommendation of his political friends, Smyth was appointed Regius Professor of Modern History, a post he kept until his death. In 1825 he inherited property, and, in accordance with the college statutes then in force, his fellowship was declared vacant. He continued, however, to occupy his rooms in college, until in 1847 he retired to Norwich, where he died, unmarried, on 24 June 1849. He was buried in Norwich Cathedral, where there is a stained-glass window to his memory over his grave.

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