Born: 1734, baptised 15 May 1734, at St. Mary's, Marlborough. Died 3 July 1803.
Son of: John Smith.
Brother of: 
Probably Maj John? Smith of the East India Company (William Hickey in his diary indicated that a Maj Smith who had died was the brother of Gen Richard Smith).

William Hickey also mentions a General John Smith who arrives in India some time after 1790 but William does not state any connection with General Richard Smith.

There was  also a Brig Gen Joseph Smith (1732-1790) of the East India company who joined the Madras forces in 1749 but his father was noted as being an officer of the East India Company (not a cheesemonger).

Richard married: 25 September 1756 in Madras (British Library N/2/1 f.271 ), Amelia Hopkins, daughter of Capt Charles Hopkins (died 1757) and Phillis Hopkins nee Bright (died 1794/5).
Richard and Amelia had issue:
1. John Maunsill Smith (John Mannseur Smith?). Also known as "Tippo".
2. Sophia Smith (1777-1857) who married her cousin James Ramsey Cuthbert (1776-1821).

Richard in his will claimed that he was the natural father, via his sister in law, of Amelia Marsh (nee Cuthbert, 1765-1793).

We know about Richard from the following sources:

1. A good description of Gen Richard Smith is in the book 'Narrative of the life of a gentleman long resident in India : comprehending a period the most eventful in the history of that country, with regard to the revolutions occasioned by European interference, and interspersed with interesting anecdotes and traits characteristical of those eminent persons who distinguished themselves at that juncture' by George Francis Grand.  Published Cape of Good Hope: Printed for the author, 1814.
2. Richard Smith gets a number of mentions in the 'Memoirs of William Hickey' (1749-1830).
3. Richard is also gets some mentions in 'History of the Rise and Progress of the Bengal Army', by Captain Arthur Broome, 1851.
4. 'A letter to General Richard Smith, in reply to the charges introduced into the ninth report of the Select Committee, affecting the character of Mr. Stuart'. By Charles Stuart, 1783, 37 pages.
5. A number of brief mentions in "The Saddle put on the Right Horse; or an enquiry into the reason why certain persons have been denominated naboobs...' by Joseph Price, 1783, 110 pages.
6. The book 'A Vindication of General Richard Smith', Chairman of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, as to His Competency (22 March 1783), by Joseph Price, 145 pages.
7. An entry in the Bengal almanac, for 1827, compiled by S. Smith and Co.
8. His will in the National Record Office at Kew.
9. An entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
10. A full biography in Parliament online information (Ref Volumes: 1754-1790, Author: J. A. Cannon).
11. A mention in the book 'The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh' by Prof Linda Colley, 2007

Richard Smith arrived in India and was commissioned into the Madras Army in 1752. He later returned to London and became a prominent shareholder in the East India Company. When he went out to India again in 1764 it was as Commander of one of the East India Company's three brigades. In 1767 he was promoted to Commander-in-Chief, India. Later he went into politics as Member of Parliament for Wendover in 1780-1784 and then as Member of Parliament for Wareham in 1790-1796. He lived at Chilton Lodge, Chilton Foliat, near Hungerford in Berkshire.

A good biography is in the Parliament online information (Ref Volumes: 1754-1790, Author: J. A. Cannon). This reads as follows:

Smith was commissioned from purser's mate to ensign in the East India Company in December 1752, and rapidly received further promotion. He distinguished himself at the siege of Nelore in 1757, but resigned the service in 1761 and returned to England. In May 1764 he accompanied Clive to India as a colonel. On the voyage out Smith's habitual superciliousness provoked Clive greatly: 'You may remember that I often told you I was afraid Dick Smith's temper and manners would not suit with Lord Clive, and it has so happened', wrote George Mackay to Robert Orme, 5 Jan. 1767.1 'They quarrelled in the passage out, and have not been friends since.' Nevertheless Smith, in command of a brigade at Allahabad, remained loyal to Clive during the Batta mutiny, and was appointed commander-in-chief when Clive left in 1767.

Smith was now busily engaged in amassing a large fortune, acquired, in part, by lending money to the Nawab of Arcot. In January 1769 he wrote: 'I am preparing for Europe by collecting my scattered fortune ... I have fortune sufficient to make me happy, if happiness can depend on every conveniency and some few indulgences of life.' When he returned home in 1770 he was reported to have brought £200,000 - £300,000 with him.

Before leaving India he had begun to negotiate for a seat in Parliament, which he confessed was his 'utmost ambition'. He hoped at first to represent Marlborough, but when the negotiations fell through he wrote to Orme: 'I particularly recommend it to you timely to look abroad for to secure me a seat on my return to England; from your letters I find you are sanguine on this particular and almost ensure me success.' When he reached home, however, nothing had been done. In November 1770 he began his search for a seat by canvassing New Shoreham. The resulting scandal was so great that the borough was reformed. In March 1771 he was defeated at Rochester by Admiral Pye. The following month he was reported at Cricklade with Sir Robert Fletcher, the sitting Member, and it was surmised that Fletcher, leaving for India, would 'reimburse himself by bringing in his friend'. Nothing came of it however. In November 1773, on a vacancy at Maldon, it was rumoured that he was going to stand. He was at Cricklade once more just before the general election of 1774,8 but passed on to contest Hindon. Here his campaign was conducted with such extraordinary freedom that the election was declared void by the House of Commons, and the borough narrowly escaped reformation. Smith and the other three candidates were then prosecuted for bribery, and he was sentenced to six months imprisonment and a fine of a thousand marks. He was also required to find sureties of good behaviour for three years. In the meantime, he had been again elected for the borough in May 1776, and again unseated by the House. In 1779, on a vacancy caused by the death of Arnold Nesbitt, he canvassed Cricklade again, but was kept out by John Macpherson. Not until the general election of 1780 did he attain his ambition, when he bought from Lord Verney the two seats at Wendover for himself and his son.

Since his return to England in 1770 Smith had been active in East India politics, partly as representative of the creditors of the Nawab of Arcot. He now jumped immediately into the front rank of the Rockingham Opposition in Parliament. In February 1781 he moved that petitions submitted against the supreme court of Bengal should be heard by a committee. He was chairman of the select committee on Indian affairs, which did much to embarrass Lord North's ministry. When, in April 1783, he moved to print the report of the select committee, Burke declared: 'The report owed the greatest part of its merit to the General near him and did him infinite honour.' In November 1783 he spoke strongly in favour of Fox's East India bill.

In 1784 he lost his seat at Wendover, and was not returned to Parliament. At the same time he was overtaken by financial difficulties, brought on by heavy gambling.11 He was said to have lost £180,000 to Fox, in whose gambling set he had been since at least 1774, and he was obliged to sell the estate at Chilton Foliat which he had purchased on his return from India in 1770. John Macnamara, the purchaser, wrote of it to Wilkes:

Even at this dreary season you will find this place beautiful; you know I suppose that this entire estate, house, furniture, timber, all, cost me less than £40,000; that it all belonged to and was created by General Smith (who by the by in his treaty with me for the purchase of it acted in the most handsome manner) and that therefore everything at this place must be perfectly 'comme il faut'.

Smith was forced to take refuge abroad,13 but his exile was brief, and he was back in his accustomed place in society in 1786, when the Public Advertiser noted that the Duke of Bedford 'was successful enough to touch General Smith for £1,200 the week after his arrival from the Continent'.

Smith died 3 July 1803. The Gentleman's Magazine reported that he left 'a very large fortune', but his will is modest.15 In his lifetime he was the subject of much gossip and scandal. He was said by many to have been the son of a cheesemonger; others said that he had been a 'menial servant' in Yorkshire. In 1772 Smith was reported to have spent some time at Oxford to improve his education. That year he was satirized by Foote in The Nabob under the name of 'Sir Matthew Mite'. In 1776 he was included in the Tete a tete portraits of the Town and Country Magazine, being coupled with Mrs. Armistead, Fox's mistress. He was considered haughty and insolent. In 1782 Selwyn described him at Brooks's.

The General told the Ambassador how rich he was, and how well the English (meaning, he said, people of distinction, such as his son) were received both at Brunswick and at Vienna; lied immoderately about the affairs of the India Company, and was ten times more at his ease than ever, to show Belgioso that he had the ton de cour.

At the same time, it was grudgingly admitted that he had considerable ability. George Vansittart commented on him in 1769, when he was about to leave India: 'The General has picked up a very large fortune, and as he has abilities and application, and seems disposed to busy himself in India matters, will probably have a good deal of weight when he gets to England.' And Wraxall wrote of him: 'Though destitute of the advantages of education and of very obscure origin, he did not by any means want parts, and he displayed some talent in addressing the House.'

There are a number of references to Richard Smith in the Memoirs of William Hickey (1749-1830).  These are as follows:

Vol 1 (1749-1775)

Page 167, Gen Richard Smith. 1769.

[Robert Clive left India for the last time in February 1767.  General Richard Smith was promoted to Commander-in-chief in 1767.  He was made Brigadier General in 1768 and later retired in 1770.  William Hickey left England on the Plassey, 4 Jan 1769]

[William Hickey arrived for the first time at Madras to take up the role of a cadet.]

Here at one o’clock we sat down to an admirable good dinner, and were vastly comfortable, Captain Waddell promising to introduce me to Governor Bourchier the following morning, for whom I had several letters, as I likewise had to General Richard Smith, the commander in Chief, Sir Robert Fletcher, Mr Du Pre, first in Council, Mr Ardley, Mr Dawson (both also members of the Council), and many other gentlemen high in the service.

Page 178-9, Gen Richard Smith. 1769 or 1770?

[William has now been commissioned as an Ensign.  He is in Madras but is thinking of transferring to Bengal.]

Mr Rider … wished me to apply to Mr Bourchier to transfer me to that Establishment, which he could easily do by giving me a recommendatory letter to Governor Verelst, or to General Richard Smith, the Commander in Chief.

Page 234, Gen Richard Smith. 20 Feb 1770.

[William Hickey is heading back to England from Madras and Canton.  He stops at St Helena.  He is in the Plassey and they see another ship the Hampshire.]

She had several Bengal gentlemen on board, passengers, particularly the Companies Commander in Chief of the army, General Richard Smith, a famous character in more ways than one.

Page 236, Gen Richard Smith.

[At St Helena William stays on the Plassey to continue to sail back to England.  In addition to the Hampshire, there is another ship called the Cruttenden.]

Being invited to dine at the Governor’s, we there met all the gentleman that were sojourners, of course General Smith amongst the number, who betrayed an insolent superiority and superciliousness that offended everybody.  To me that knew his origin, the old adage recurred, “Set a beggar on a horseback, and he’ll ride to the devel.”  This insolent man’s father kept a little cheese monger’s shop in Jermyn Street, St. James’s market, where Dick was an apprentice, but turning out a sad profligate scapegrace, committing some atrocious acts that endangered his neck, the unhappy parent, in order to prevent an untimely exit, obtained a Cadetship to India for him, a situation in those days not so much sought after as in later times.  The young sinner entered upon his new vocation with ardour and zeal, and became so excellent a soldier as entirely from his own merit as such to rise to command the army of Bengal.  His manners, however, in each gradation were disagreeable, and peculiarly so to those he considered his inferiors.  His pride sometimes met with little rebuffs, as in the following instance.  During the period the army was under his command, being upon actual service in the field against the Rohillas, in the severe heats of May, when a man could scarce respire, a young Irishman of the name of Hunt, fresh imported from dear Dublin, was shown into his tent, where he delivered some letters he has brought out from persons of rank to the General.  Breakfast being over, and the intense heat making the Commander more irascible that in ordinary, he felt no inclination to be civil to poor Paddy, as angrily observing the hour of visiting was past, but as Hunt paid no attention to this remark, and the General wished probably to treat the bearer of letters from men of consequence with more than his common curtesy because his introducers were in high life, he condescended to ask Hunt if he had breakfasted, and being answered in the negative, an aid-de-camp was summoned to make tea.  The young Hibernian having swallowed a plentiful quantity of the refreshing beverage, accompanied by a tolerable share of bread and butter, the pompous General thought it time for him to depart, and by way of a hint, said, “Good morning to you sir,” rising from his chair.

Hunt without stirring from his, answered:

“Good morning to you sir.”

The General, astonished at so unusual a conduct, took a turn or two up and down the tent, then walked close up to Hunt, he again said:

“Good morning to you sir.”

“Good morning to you sir,” repeated Hunt.

Still more surprized, the General renewed his walk for two or three minutes, and marching close to his immoveable guest, he fiercely once more said “Good morning.”

“Good morning sir,” mildly answered Hunt.

Smith, in a violet rage, then said, “Pray, how the devil did you get here?”

“In a ship sir.”

“In a ship!  God’s blood!  What do you mean?  Don’t you know you are four hundred miles from the sea?”

“Faith, and I do,” said Hunt.

“What is it you want, sir?”

“Troth, every thing sir.”

“By God, you are a very extraordinary fellow.  I dine out, sir, but if you want a dinner my servants shall prepare some for you.”

“Sir, I want dinner and supper, and lodging, and if you do not provide them I don’t know who else will.”

This seemed to tickle the General’s fancy, producing a smile, and, addressing his aid-de-camp, he directed him to take the young man to the Adjutant General who would station him to some corps and do all that was requisite.  This order being given out aloud, Hunt said:

“Thank you!  Thank you,” instantly adding, “Pray now, General, do you call this your winter or your summer?”

So ill timed a question, when everyone was gasping for breath, proved too severe a trial for General Smith, who violently exclaiming, “By God this is too much,” hastily quitted the tent.

This young and uncouth Irishman became an excellent soldier, and early distinguished himself by extraordinary acts of gallantry in several severe conflicts with the enemy.  He was soon a great favourite of General Smith’s, who, unluckily for him, left India three years after his arrival, whereby he lost a friend who would have served him and promoted his interest.  …

Page 369

When the meat was removed from the table at the dinner I was speaking of at St Helena, the Governor expressed his concern to General Smith that neither of the store ships were yet arrived, consequently there was not a bit of cheese on the island.  The following day the same party dined with Mr Corneille, and the good natured Governor renewed his concern at the want of cheese, to which the General answered he was indifferent about the cheese, nor should he much care if he never saw any.  The third day we again met at Mr Skottowe’s, and again the lamentation for the want of cheese, whereupon the pompous military hero angrily said, “Damn the Cheese. Why do you continue plagueing me, sir, with your want of cheese when I have so often told you I don’t care two pence about it.”  The mild Governor, who was unacquainted with the circumstance of his guest’s having formerly had so much to do with cheese, seemed greatly distressed at the General’s violence, and made many apologies for unintentionally giving offence.  Several of the company could scarcely preserve their gravity at the ridiculousness of the scene, which evidently mortified the pride of the ci devant cheese monger!

…

General Smith, was as we learned from his name sake, the Captain of the Hampshire, remarkably timorous on board ship.  Whenever the wind blew at all fresh he became extremely uneasy and restless, continually, by night as well as day, running out upon deck to ask questions of the officers of the watch respecting the weather and state of the ship.  Of the truth of this character he furnished undeniable evidence himself by calling upon Captain Waddell in the most earnest manner, entreating that he would keep company with the Hampshire from St Helena to England, which he said he should consider as a personal favour to himself.  Captain Waddell gratified him much by consenting to comply with his desire.

The 6^th of March being appointed for the two ships sailing, the passengers of both were invited to dine that day with Mr Corneille, there to meet and take leave of the Governor.  This worthy and respectable gentleman (Mr Skottowe) therefore called several times upon the General to learn at what hour he proposed to embark, that every compliment in his power to shew might be prepared.  To this pointed civility the haughty Bengally paid no sort of attention, until, being pressed by Mr Skottowe, he pettishly said, “Sun set, sun set.”  We dined at two o’clock, and before four General Smith left the table saying he should return immediately, instead of doing which the Governor’s servants came hastily into the room telling him the General was at the water side, and the boat getting ready to take him off to the ship, upon which Mr Skittowe, who was lame, instantly rose and hobbled after him, much against the will and advice of his lieutenant, Mr Corneille, who earnestly entreated him not to move, and let the gentleman steal off, unnoticed and unattended, as such seemed to be his wish; further observing that his whole conduct while at the island had been so insolent and unbecoming as in his opinion to render him unworthy of the least respect or compliment, and none therefore should he receive from him.

Mr Skottowe, to these remarks, answered that it was to the rank and station the General filled, not to the individual, he wished to pay respect, and under that impression he followed to the seaside.  Pott and I did the same, to see how the fellow would comport himself.  Just as Mr Skottowe and we got to the wharf he had seated himself in the boat.  Upon seeing the Governor, quite out of breath from the dispatch he had used, he coolly turned his head, saying, “You have given yourself a great deal of unnecessary trouble sir,” and then without even touching his hat, desired the coxswain of the boat to push off.  Upon this impertinence being communicated to Mr Corneille, he protested against any salute being fired, but without effect.  Using the same argument as before, the Governor directed the customary number of guns to be given.

As I had been informed we were not to sail until the following morning I did not go on board until after midnight, staying so late at a particular request of Pott.   I certainly never left a place in which I had resided a fortnight with so little regret as I did at St Helena.  The comforts it offers are few indeed; scarce any fruit, bad bread, and no fresh butter.  Yet the charges made for every article of life were enormously high.  Pott accompanied me on board, and slept upon a couch in our cabin.  At day break we got underway, and he bid me adieu, promising to call in St Albans Street within twelve hours after he should reach London.  The Cruttenden was to remain ten days longer at St Helena.

The Hampshire kept up tolerably well, and with our glasses we often saw the coxcomb General looking at us.  On the 11^th we made the island of Ascension, famous for the fineness of the turtle caught there.  The two commanders had agreed to stop one night for a supply of that rich and esteemed food.  We anchored within half a mile of the shore about two in the afternoon, close to each other.  McClintock and I accompanied our Commander to the Hampshire.  Captain Waddell recommended every body’s staying quietly on board, the day being too far advanced to land with a prospect of succeeding in our objective, experience having taught him that if the least movement of boats or people took place in the afternoon the turtle were alarmed and not one of them would leave the water.  General Smith chose to ridicule such an idea, and Captain Smith, thinking it was foundered in mistake, his boats with the General immediately went on shore.  I went with Mr Chisholme, Captain Waddell assuring us we should not see a single turtle.

We landed upon a fine regularly sloping beach …

Vol 2 (1775-1782)

Page 89, Gen Richard Smith. August 1776.  William Hickey returned to India in May 1777.

In the evening Mr Cane returned to Erith, but I remained in London, being engaged to dine with my old Plassey shipmate, Mr Jacob Rider, who had been some time returned from India, where I was most hospitably entertained.  He told me he has spoken to General Richard Smith, Mr Leicester, and others of his India connections, from all of whom he should get very powerful and useful recommendations for me.

Page 284, Gen Richard Smith.

The 7^th (of September) I returned to town, being engaged to dine with Major Metcalfe on the 8^th at his house in Suffolk Street, Middlesex Hospital.  At this party I met Lord Fielding, eldest son of the Earl of Denbigh; General Smith, of whom I have before spoken relative to cheese at the Island of St Helena; the general’s son, a fine young man in appearance, who had, I know not why, been nicknamed Tippoo; Mr Devaynes, the India Director; Captain Douglas, who commanded the ship Queen, and some others whose names I do not recollect.  We had a very jolly set, and as I was in those days a great promoter of hilarity I invited all that remained to a late hour at table, being those above specified, to dine with me that day week at the Royal Hotel in Pall Mall.  This they agreed to do.  I added to the number, Mr Paxton, the discontented Mordaunt, and my brother, who when the day arrived was so much indisposed that he was unwillingly obliged to give up the pleasure of joining us.  We had, as usual, a hard batch at drinking and we were merry, keeping it up until an early hour of the morning.

Page 287, Gen Richard Smith.

General Smith, Mr Devaynes, and a few others of the graver sort, having departed, Robert called for a pen and ink, and paper, and wrote down the following names: Mr Roe Yoe (MP for Coventry), Lord Fielding, Wilberforce Bird (of Wood Street), Lord Peterborough, Smith (Tippoo), Henry Mourdant, Joseph Bird, William (now Sir William) Curtis, James Curtis, his brother, Messieurs Marjoribanks and Lovelace, senior, of the Guards, Captain Belford of the Horse Guards, Harvey Coombe (now one of the members for the City of London), Lovelace, junior, Tom Vaughan (the author), Arthur Shakespear, Captain Sutton, young Horneck (of the Guards), William Hickey, and Robert Pott.

“And now,” said he, let these twenty dine together twice a week during the winter, each person ordering a dinner at which he is to preside, at whatever tavern he pleases within London or Westminster, and, when the whole list has gone through, finally to fix at whatever house a majority of the members should pronounce to have found the best.

Page 298, Gen Richard Smith.

The 17^th of November I received notice from Messieurs Irvine and Touchet that the petition was to be presented to the House of Commons on the 23^rd, upon which day they requested my attendance and my company to dine with them afterwards at the British coffee-house.  I accordingly went on the day appointed to Westiminster, Mr Burke taking me in hand, by which I got a very good place in the gallery and was much entertained for two hours listening to the different speakers.  The petition being received and read was ordered to lie on the table, the member who presented it observing he should on a subsequent day move that a committee be appointed to take it into consideration and report there on.

In the regular course of business the petition was referred to a committee, General Smith being the chairman of it.  Amongst the other members were Mr Burke, Sir Gilbert Elliot, now Lord Minto, Mr Long, and (on account of his uncommon parsimony) the much talked of Mr Elwes.  From the time of their first meeting I was obliged to attend daily in the committee room, and I underwent a very long examination relative to the practice of the Supreme Court of Judicature and the general line adopted by the judges thereof in their official capacities.

Whilst the matter was under investigation Mr Richard Barwell arrived in England from Bengal, with a fortune, according to common report, of upwards of four hundred thousand pounds sterling.  In a very few days after this gentleman reached England he became a candidate for a seat in Parliament.  He likewise purchased the extensive and valuable estate of the then late Earl of Halifax situate at Stanstead in the county of Sussex.  His first habitation in London was in a house belonging to an old maiden sister, Miss Mary Barwell, of whom I have already spoken, in Great Ormond Street, Bloomsbury.

It having been suggested to the committee that in all probability much important information might be gained by examining Mr Barwell, especially respecting the impediments that had been thrown in the way of Colonel Watson in the carrying into execution his plan of constructing wet and dry docks in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, by which impediments and interruption the nation, as well as the individual promoter of the work, had sustained a great and irreparable injury, a summons was ordered to be issued.

…

Page 301, Gen Richard Smith.

 …

The doors being once more opened, Mr Barwell was placed at the end of the table, when the chairman (General Smith) addressed him to the following effect: “Mr Richard Barwell, you have behaved in a manner that calls for the highest degree of reprehension!  Your daring to treat a committee of the House of Commons with contumely reflects disgrace upon the person so acting, and it is the more extraordinary that you should presume to do so at the very time you are yourself a candidate for becoming a member of that house you are thus indecently insulting.  This committee feel with the utmost surprize and indignation your ungentlemanlike conduct, a conduct that imperiously demands the severest censure, and I am directed to inform you that nothing prevents the committee from representing your contemptuous and disgraceful behaviour towards them to the house, but an unwillingness to break in upon the very serious and important avocations in which they know that house to be now engaged.  I am further directed to tell you that the uncommon insolence and shameless prevarication of your servant has not passed unobserved by this committee, an insolence that should not remain unpunished did not the committee feel convinced that no man in the low station that person is would have dared to betray the impertinence he has unless he had been encouraged and instructed so to do by his master.  Withdraw.”

The humbled and mortified nabob began a speech with “I beg leave to assure this honourable committee …”

“Withdraw!” haughtily said the chairman.  “Not a word more.  Withdraw!” accompanying his imperious order with a contemptuous motion of his hand towards the door, whereupon the messengers and attendants forced Barwell out of the room.  Never was a purse proud, haughty man so mortified as Mr Barwell upon this occasion.  Wealth did not operate!  The culprit, although of unbounded riches, was treated with no more distinction than would have been the lowest plebeian under similar circumstances.

What rendered the above reprimand the more severe and humiliating was the channel through which it was pronounced being General Smith who, though of inferior rank and influence in India, had always violently opposed the measures of Mr Barwell, and they were sworn enemies. 

…

Vol 3 (1782-1790)

Page 164.  Mention of Richard Smith’s brother Maj Smith.

Upon my return to Bengal I found my Margate acquaintance, Metcalfe, with the rank of Major in the army, and filling the post of military storekeeper, a situation in those days the most lucrative in the Company’s service, which he had attained by most perseveringly courting the heads of the Government.  Shortly after his last arrival in Calcutta he married Mrs Smith, widow of Major Smith of the Company’s infantry, who was brother to the far-famed General Richard Smith of cheesemongering celebrity, of whom I have already spoken upon meeting him at the Governor of St Helena’s table when on my way home in the beginning of the year 1770. …

No mentions of General Richard Smith in Vol 4 but there is a mention of General John Smith who does not appear to be related and arrives in India after 1790.

In his will it would appear that before he died, Richard was living in Park Place, in the Parish of St George Saviour Square, Middelsex. He notes himself as a Brigadier General in the Service of the Honorable East India Company. He makes a reference to his natural daughter Amelia Cuthbert. His son John Maunsill Smith is then noted as his only lawful child.

If you have any more information please do contact me.