Sir William Sydney Smith (21 June 1764 – 26 May 1840) was an admiral of the Royal Navy who served in the American War of Independence and the Egypt Campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Biography[]
Smith was from Westminster in London with family connections to the political Pitt family. In 1777 he joined the noble navy and fought frigate USS Raleigh in the American Revolution. He later fought at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781 and the Battle of the Saintes in 1782, and headed to France, Spain, and Morocco after the Treaty of Versailles ended the war in 1783.
He later served in the Swedish navy at the Battle of Svensksund in 1790, a Swedish victory. He was knighted by the Kingdom of Sweden as a reward, and was called "the Swedish knight" by fellow British naval officers. When he returned to Britain in 1792 he fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and was wounded at the Battle of al-Huwayhi in late October 1798. In 1799 he fought in the Siege of Acre and defended the city from the French and he returned home in 1801. In 1806 he served at the Battle of Maida in Italy, assisting the Kingdom of Sicily against the French Empire. In 1811 he was made a noble in the British court, and he opposed slavery. He died in 1840.