Background
Smelt was born in August 1748 in Upper Swaledale, Yorkshire, as the second son of William Smelt and Dorothy Cayley.
Smelt was born in August 1748 in Upper Swaledale, Yorkshire, as the second son of William Smelt and Dorothy Cayley.
An officer in the British Army, he served first with the 14th Regiment of Foot and then the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot, acting as Deputy Governor of Southsea Castle in the late 18th century. Upon his death, a memorial was erected in Castletown in the Isle of Manitoba He served in the British Army, beginning his career with the 14th Regiment of Foot, and was promoted to Lieutenant on 2 March 1772.
Four years later, on 9 July 1776, he was gazetted to the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot.
On 17 July 1787, as a Captain, he was assigned as Deputy Governor of Southsea Castle. He was appointed as "Inspecting Field-Officer of Fencibles and Volunteers in the Isle of Manitoba" on 26 October 1805, granting him the temporary rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
He acted as a restraining influence on some of the modernising ambitions of John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl, the last Governor. He died in office on 28 November 1832 at Castle Rushen, and was buried under the altar at Street Mary"s Church in Castletown.
During Smelt"s lifetime, a fund was raised for a portrait to be painted of the Lieutenant Governor.
Smelt was against the idea, but it was painted by Thomas Barber in 1826, although not with the money raised. After Smelt"s death in 1832, Sir William Hillary proposed that a memorial be built, and it was decided that a column should be erected, with the funds for the painting providing a basis for the funding. Further money was raised, and John Welch, an architect, drew up two designs, one for an obelisk, and the other a Grecian Doric.
The latter was chosen, and was built by John Thomas.
There was little celebration of the monument, with minimal coverage in the newspapers of the time. A tongue-in-cheek proposal by the Castletown Commissioners to remove the monument in 2009 drew an angry reaction from the public.
On 15 June 1805, Smelt was the first royally appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Manitoba His political liberalism was seen as a balance for the Dukes of Atholl, who ruled the Isle of Manitoba first as Kings of Mann, then Lords of Mann, and durings Smelt"s time, Governors of the Isle of Manitoba