Philip Sydney Smyth (14 March 1715 – 29 April 1787 [1]) was a Church of Ireland clergyman and fourth Viscount Strangford in the Peerage of Ireland. [2] He succeeded to the viscountcy on 8 September 1724. [1]
He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. [3] King George II appointed him Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin in 1746 but the chapter successfully argued that the Crown was not the patron, and he was dispossessed. [4] He was successively Prebendary of Killaspugmullane in Cork Cathedral; [5] Precentor of Elphin (1746–52); [6] Dean of Derry (1752–69); [7] and Archdeacon of Derry [8] (1769–74). [9] [2] [10]
He sat in the Irish House of Lords until 1784, when he was excluded by Act of Parliament after being tried and convicted of corruption for soliciting a bribe of £200 from the applicant in a court case that was pending before the House. [11] [12] The scandal was exacerbated by the fact that it came less than two years after the Irish Lords had regained final appellate jurisdiction from the British House of Lords. [13]
In 1741 Strangford married Mary, daughter of Anthony Jephson, MP for Mallow and his second wife Hannah Rogerson. They had six children: Mary-Anne (1745–1823) and Anne-Philippa (1749–1830), both unmarried; Robert, Philip, and Frances, who all died young; and finally Lionel (1753–1801), who also took holy orders before succeeding as 5th Viscount. [2] [14]
Philip Sydney Smyth (14 March 1715 – 29 April 1787 [1]) was a Church of Ireland clergyman and fourth Viscount Strangford in the Peerage of Ireland. [2] He succeeded to the viscountcy on 8 September 1724. [1]
He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. [3] King George II appointed him Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin in 1746 but the chapter successfully argued that the Crown was not the patron, and he was dispossessed. [4] He was successively Prebendary of Killaspugmullane in Cork Cathedral; [5] Precentor of Elphin (1746–52); [6] Dean of Derry (1752–69); [7] and Archdeacon of Derry [8] (1769–74). [9] [2] [10]
He sat in the Irish House of Lords until 1784, when he was excluded by Act of Parliament after being tried and convicted of corruption for soliciting a bribe of £200 from the applicant in a court case that was pending before the House. [11] [12] The scandal was exacerbated by the fact that it came less than two years after the Irish Lords had regained final appellate jurisdiction from the British House of Lords. [13]
In 1741 Strangford married Mary, daughter of Anthony Jephson, MP for Mallow and his second wife Hannah Rogerson. They had six children: Mary-Anne (1745–1823) and Anne-Philippa (1749–1830), both unmarried; Robert, Philip, and Frances, who all died young; and finally Lionel (1753–1801), who also took holy orders before succeeding as 5th Viscount. [2] [14]