Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Smith, Theyre Townsend
SMITH, THEYRE TOWNSEND (1798–1852), divine, son of Richard Smith of Middlesex, was born in 1798, and was brother of William Henry Smith [q. v.] He was originally a presbyterian, and studied at Glasgow University, but being convinced by reading Hooker that episcopacy was the scriptural form of church government, he resolved to enter the English church. He accordingly matriculated from Queens' College, Cambridge, on 4 Jan. 1823, graduating B.A. in 1827, and M.A. in 1830. After serving a curacy in Huntingdonshire and another in Essex, he was appointed assistant preacher at the Temple in 1835. In 1839 and 1840 he filled the post of Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge, and in 1845 he was presented to the living of Newhaven in Sussex. In March 1848, when Louis-Philippe took refuge in England after his deposition, Theyre Townsend received him on his landing at Newhaven. In the same year Thomas Turton [q. v.], bishop of Ely, who had expressed great admiration of his lectures, collated him to the vicarage of Wymondham in Norfolk. In 1850 he was appointed honorary canon of Norwich. He died on 4 May 1852 at Wymondham.
He married Rebecca, second daughter of Thomas Williams of Coate in Oxfordshire. Smith was the author of: 1. ‘Sermons preached at the Temple Church and before the University of Cambridge,’ London, 1838, 8vo. 2. ‘Hulsean Lectures for the Year 1839,’ London, 1840, 8vo. 3. ‘Hulsean Lectures for the Year 1840,’ London, 1841, 8vo. 4. ‘Remarks on the Influence of Tractarianism in promoting Secessions to the Church of Rome,’ London, 1851, 8vo. 5. ‘The Sacrifice of the Death of Christ,’ London, 1851, 12mo.
[Gent. Mag. 1852, ii. 97, 317; English Review, xvii. 445; Burke's Landed Gentry, ed. 1850, ii. 1599; information kindly supplied by the master of Queens' College, Cambridge.]