Smith, David William, Sir, 1st Baronet (1764 -1837)

David William Smith was born in Salisbury, England, the only child of John Smith and Anne Waylen. He married firstly in 1788 Anne O’Reilly, with whom he had eight children. In 1803 he married secondly Mary Tyler, with whom he had one daughter. The son of a career soldier and educated under military tutors, David William Smith was commissioned an ensign in the 5th Foot (later the Northumberland Regiment) in 1779. He rejoined the regiment from marriage leave when it was posted to Detroit under his father’s command in 1790. He held a series of regimental administrative posts there and, after the 5th was moved in June 1792, at Fort Niagara. From 1791 to 1792 he acted as clerk to the Hesse District land board. In 1798 he was confirmed by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe as Surveyor General of Upper Canada. Smith was also a member of the House of Assembly of Upper Canada. He was first elected in 1792 for Suffolk and Essex. He was elected again in 1796 for the 3rd riding of Lincoln and yet again in 1800 for Norfolk, Oxford and Middlesex. In July 1802 he left Upper Canada and re-settled in England, where he re-married, his first wife having died in 1798. On 12 May 1804 he gave notice of resigning all his Upper Canadian appointments. They included the lieutenancy of the county of York, the command of its militia, and numerous minor offices and commissions. He began a second career as property manager for the Duke of Northumberland. He was made a baronet in 1821. He died near Alnwick, Northumberland in 1837.