The son of a Liverpool banker, he was educated at Eton and Peterhouse, Cambridge, and was Professor of Modern History at Cambridge (1807). He published of English Lyricks (1797) and Lectures on Modern History (1840).

REFERENCES TO William Smyth:

Lord Byron to R. C. Dallas, 7 September 1811 in Letters and Journals of Lord Byron 2 Vols (London: John Murray, 1830)

John Whishaw to Thomas Smith, 22 January 1818 in The “Pope” of Holland House: Selections from the Correspondence of John Whishaw and his Friends 1813-1840 (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1906)

John Whishaw to Thomas Smith, 24 August 1819 in The “Pope” of Holland House: Selections from the Correspondence of John Whishaw and his Friends 1813-1840 (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1906)

John Whishaw to Thomas Smith, 6 November 1819 in The “Pope” of Holland House: Selections from the Correspondence of John Whishaw and his Friends 1813-1840 (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1906)

Sir Walter Scott to Lord Montagu of Boughton, 15 June 1824 in Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart. 7 vols (Edinburgh: Robert Cadell, 1837)

Sydney Smith to Harriet Grote, 20 December 1840 in A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith. By his Daughter, Lady Holland. With a Selection from his Letters, edited by Mrs. Austin 2 vols (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855)

George Ticknor to Samuel Rogers, 30 December 1840 in Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries 2 Vols (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1889)