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Erasmus Smith (baptised 1611 – died 1691) was an English merchant, landowner and philanthropist in the field of education who lived during a period of political and religious turbulence. Smith's family owned manors in Leicestershire and held Protestant beliefs. He become a merchant, a supplier of foodstuffs to the armies of the Puritan Oliver Cromwell - especially during Cromwell's suppression of rebellion in Ireland — and an alderman of the City of London. He was a beneficiary of legislation designed to provide finance for those military campaigns of the 1640s and 1650s, from which he gained extensive landholdings in Ireland both as a return for monies given in support and by speculation in the land options promised to others who had given such support. Subsequently, during the remainder of Cromwell's rule and then the succession of Charles II, Smith manoeuvred to protect his land gains and to further his general religious sympathies. He achieved this in part by creating an eponymous Trust whereby some of his Irish property was used for the purpose of financing the education of children and provided scholarships for the most promising of those to continue their studies at Trinity College, Dublin. ==Background== Erasmus Smith was born in 1611 and baptised on 8 April of that year at Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire. He was the second son of Roger Smith and his second wife, Anna (née Goodman). Henry "Silver-tongued" Smith, the Puritan preacher, was an uncle. The family had changed their name to Smith from Heriz (or Harris) when they inherited the manor of Edmondthorpe during the reign of Henry VII, and it was Erasmus's grandfather, also called Erasmus, who had bought the manor of Husbands Bosworth in 1565.〔Wallace (2004), p. 13.〕〔Barnard (2004).〕 By 1631 Roger Smith was an alderman of the City of London and in 1635 he was knighted. Erasmus followed his father to the City, served a seven-year apprenticeship with a poultry merchant, John Saunders, and was made a freeman of the Grocers' Company on 10 February 1635. In 1657, he too was elected an alderman,〔Beavan (1908).〕 but preferred to pay a fine of £420 in order to be released from the duties of office. In these early years he was also unwilling to have much involvement in the business of the Grocers' Company, although this changed later in life: the cause of his initial reluctance may have been his preference to concentrate on acquiring his wealth.〔 According to the records of the Aldermen of the City of London, Erasmus was Member of Parliament for Ardee in County Louth between 1665 and 1666.〔〔Wallace (2004), p. 13, 22–23.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Erasmus Smith」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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