The plaque is on the back of one of the choristers stalls in the chancel.
South side, back row, second from the west end.
LEYCESTER SMYTH K.C.B.,K.C.M.G.,
GOVERNOR OF GIBRALTAR, LATE
LIEUT GOV. PORTSMOUTH.
BORN OCT 25 1829 DIED JAN 27 1891
DD. LIEUT. GEN. H.R.H. THE DUKE
OF CONNAUGHT AND STRATHEARN
K.G. K.C.B. LIEUT. GOVERNOR OF
PORTSMOUTH JAN 1 1893
Further Information
This plaque is on one of the two most westerly stalls at the rear on the South side which were later additions. Originally 42 stalls were adorned with the plaques, the place where the last two were added was then a doorway to the belltower. This had gone out of use by the 1890's and the church authorities decided to block up the entrance with two more matching stalls.
Born the seventh son of Richard Curzon-Howe, 1st Earl Howe and educated at Eton College, Smyth was commissioned into the Rifle Brigade in 1845. He served in the Basuto War in 1852. In 1854 he was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Lord Raglan and was present at the Battle of Alma, the Battle of Inkerman and the Siege of Sevastopol. He subsequently served as ADC to General Codington. He was made Assistant Military Secretary in the Ionian Islands in 1856, Military Secretary in Ireland in 1865 and Deputy Quartermaster in Ireland in 1872.
In 1877 he became General Officer Commanding Western District and in 1880 GOC Cape Colony. He was acting High Commissioner for Southern Africa from 1882 to 1883, GOC Southern District from 1889 to 1890 (in which capacity he hosted a visit by the Shah of Persia) and Governor of Gibraltar from 1890 until his death in 1891, aged 61.
In 1866 he married Alicia Maria Smyth and the following year adopted his wife's maiden name as his own surname: they had no children.
