Thomas Smith was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 clergyman, who served as Dean of Carlisle

Dean of Carlisle

The Dean of Carlisle is based in Carlisle, UK and is the head of the Chapter of Carlisle Cathedral. There have been 39 previous incumbents and the current holder of the post is The Very Reverend Mark Boyling.-Deans:...

, 1672–1684, and Bishop of Carlisle

Bishop of Carlisle

The Bishop of Carlisle is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Carlisle in the Province of York.The diocese covers the County of Cumbria except for Alston Moor and the former Sedbergh Rural District...

, 1684–1702. He graduated MA

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 from The Queen's College, Oxford

The Queen's College, Oxford

The Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture...

 in 1639 and served as chaplain

Chaplain

Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

 to King Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

.

Life

The son of John Smith of Whitewell in the parish of Asby

Asby, Eden

Asby is a civil parish in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. It includes Great Asby and Little Asby. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 280....

, Cumberland

Cumberland

Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....

, after education at the free school at Appleby

Appleby

-Europe:* Appleby, North Lincolnshire, a village in England* Appleby Magna, a village and parish in Leicestershire, England** Appleby Parva, a village in the parish of Appleby Magna* Appleby-in-Westmorland, a town in Cumbria, England...

, he matriculated from Queen's College, Oxford, on 4 November 1631, aged 16. Having graduated B.A. in 1635 and M.A. in 1639, he became a fellow of his college and a tutor.

He was a select preacher before Charles I at Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

, in 1645. When that city fell he retired to the north of England, where he married Catharine, widow of Sir Henry Fletcher of Hutton in Cumberland, and only emerged on the Restoration, proceeding B.D. on 2 August 1660, and D.D. by diploma in the following November. He was appointed chaplain to Charles II, and was rewarded with the first prebendal stall in Carlisle Cathedral

Carlisle Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, otherwise called Carlisle Cathedral, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Carlisle. It is located in Carlisle, in Cumbria, North West England...

 (November 1660). Within a few months of this he was collated to a prebend in the Durham Cathedral

Durham Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham is a cathedral in the city of Durham, England, the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Durham. The Bishopric dates from 995, with the present cathedral being founded in AD 1093...

, the prebendal house attached to which he restored. On the promotion of Guy Carleton

Guy Carleton

Guy Carleton may refer to:*Guy Carleton , , Anglican bishop*Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, , Irish soldier and early Governor of Canada*Guy Carleton Wiggins, American landscape painter...

 to the see of Bristol, Smith was instituted dean of Carlisle (4 March 1671–2), He succeeded Edward Rainbowe

Edward Rainbowe

Edward Rainbowe or Rainbow was an English clergyman and a noted preacher.-Life:He was born on 20 April 1608 at Blyton in Lindsey, Lincolnshire, where his father Thomas Rainbowe was vicar. His mother, Rebecca, daughter of David Allen, rector of the neighbouring parish of Ludborough, was educated in...

 as bishop in 1684 (consecrated 19 June), and died at Rose Castle

Rose Castle

Rose Castle is a fortified house in Cumbria, England, on a site that was home to the bishops of Carlisle from 1230 to 2009. It is within the parish of Dalston, from Dalston itself...

 on 12 April 1702. He was succeeded at Carlisle by another fellow of Queen's, William Nicolson

William Nicolson

William Nicolson was an English divine and antiquary.-Life:He was born in Plumbland, Cumberland, the son of Joseph Nicolson, Rector of Plumbland and educated at the school in nearby Dovenby...

.

Legacy

A flat stone near the altar in the cathedral is inscribed to his memory. A number of his letters are calendared among the Rydal MSS.

As Dean, he rebuilt the deanery and presented the cathedral with an organ. With his first cousin, Thomas Barlow

Thomas Barlow (bishop)

Thomas Barlow was an English academic and clergyman, who became Provost of The Queen's College, Oxford and Bishop of Lincoln. He was considered, in his own times and by Edmund Venables writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, to have been a trimmer, a reputation mixed in with his academic...

, bishop of Lincoln

Bishop of Lincoln

The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...

, and Randall Sanderson, he gave £600 for the improvement of Appleby school. He endowed Carlisle grammar school, the chapter library, and the cathedral treasury, as well as donations to his old college at Oxford and to the poor.