Background
The third son of Robert Smirke, and brother of Sir Robert Smirke, and of Sydney Smirke, he was born at Marylebone.
The third son of Robert Smirke, and brother of Sir Robert Smirke, and of Sydney Smirke, he was born at Marylebone.
He was educated privately and at Saint John"s College, Cambridge, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts (being twelfth wrangler) in 1816, and Master of Arts Smirke was called to the bar at the Middle Temple on 12 November 1824, went on the western circuit, and attended the Hampshire sessions.
In 1820. In December 1844 he was appointed solicitor-general to the Prince of Wales, and on the following 5 February solicitor-general to him as Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. By letters patent under the great seal of England he was constituted on 2 July 1853 vice-warden of the stannaries of Cornwall and Devon, which post he held until 29 September 1870. From 1846 to 1855 he was recorder of Southampton.
On his retirement in 1870 from active life he was knighted at Windsor.
As a student, Smirke had a predilection for the investigation and elucidation of charters, and for the history of mining in the duchy of Cornwall. From November 1861 to November 1863, and from that date in 1865 to November 1867, he presided over the Royal Institution of Cornwall.
During the first of these periods, when the Cambrian Archæological Society paid a visit to Truro in 1862 he presided over the congress. He died at 18 Thurloe Square, South Kensington, on 4 March 1875, and is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
She died at Truro on 23 February 1863.
He succeeded to the post of attorney-general to the prince on 25 June 1852, and was ex officio member of his council. He was a member of the Royal Archæological Institute from its foundation, and took an active part at its annual meetings