Bernard Smith of Totnes in Devon was MP for Totnes in 1558. He was mayor of Totnes in 1549–50 and c. 1565–6, and was escheator of Devon and Cornwall in 1567–8.
One of the earliest surviving recorded events of his career was his seizure in 1545 of a Spanish ship and its cargo which resulted in his censure by the Privy Council and an order for him to restore both to their owner. In several ventures he was a business partner of Christoper Savery MP and his brother Richard Savery MP, whom he later accused in the Star Chamber of assault and theft.
Lands held
He purchased further lands near to those formerly belonging to Totnes Priory inherited from his father, and was subjected to a lawsuit due to his having cut-off the water supply to the mills of Totnes Castle.
Marriage and progeny
The name of Bernard Smith's wife, whom he had married by 1547, is not known, but by her he left a daughter and sole heiress:
Eleanor Smith, a substantial heiress who married four times, but produced no issue:
*Firstly to John Charles of Tavistock, whose great-great-grandfather John Charles of Morton Hampstead in Devon had married Margery Foorde, daughter and heiress of Richard Foorde long seated at the estate of Foorde in the parish of Moretonhampstead, which estate had been given to his ancestor Ely Foorde by William de Mandeville, 3rd Earl of Essex. Without issue.
*Thirdly Eleanor married John II Wrey of North Russell in Devon and Trebeigh, St Ive, in Cornwall, eldest son of John I Wrey, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1587, and brother of Sir William Wrey, 1st Baronet. The large chest tomb monument to John Wrey I showing kneeling effigies of him and his wife Blanche Killigrew, heiress of Trebeigh, survives in the north transept of St Peter's Church in Tawstock, Devon, a later seat of the Wrey family, having been removed in 1924 from St Ive Church in Cornwall. The arms of Smith of Totnes Barry undé of sixteen argent and azure, on a chief gules three barnacles or are shown on the front of the chest tomb impaled by Wrey. Without issue.
*Fourthly in 1596 Eleanor married Ambrose Bellot of Bochym, Cornwall and of "Downton", Devon MP for East Looe, Cornwall, in 1597.
Death and succession
Bernard Smith died in Totnes on 16 July 1591. He was succeeded by his daughter and sole heiress Eleanor Smith, then the wife of John Wrey. His will has not survived.
