A Pair of George III Silver Serving Dishes from the "Speaker Smith" service, Augusts Le Sage, London, 1774

Thomas Assheton Smith (1752-1828), to his son

Thomas Assheton Smith (1776-1858), to his great nephew

George William Duff (1848-1904), to his brother

Sir Charles Garden Duff, Bart. (1851-1914), to his grandson

Michael Robert William Duff (1907-1980), sold

Christie's, London, December 10, 1958, lot 129

When John Smith was named Speaker of the House of Commons in 1705-06, he received 4,000 ounces of perquisite plate from the Jewel House. After his death in 1723, his son Captain William Smith seems to have have had the original Royal gifts remade into more fashionable forms by David Willaume, Anne Tanqueray, and others. The ten-sided dishes by Willaume (sold from the collection of Fay Plohn, Sotheby's, London, 15 October 1970, lots 27 and 28) followed contemporary French fashion, as evidenced by the ten-sided dishes by Nicolas Besnier, 1723, acquired by William Bateman, 1st Viscount Bateman, and his wife Lady Anne Spencer (Puiforcat Collection, Louvre). However, the new forms continued the Britannia standard of the original Royal perquisite and were engraved with the Royal Arms of Queen Anne in memory of the Speaker.

Captain William Smith died without heirs in 1763, his estates and property passing to his nephew Thomas Assheton, son of William's sister Harriet Theodosia and her husband Sir Thomas Ashheton of Ashley, Cheshire. He had the Speaker Smith service extended by Augustin Le Sage, in sterling standard but with the pieces engraved with the arms of Queen Anne and the crest of Smith. Thomas Assheton adopted the name of Smith on his inheritence. He was High Sheriff of Carnarvonshire in 1783-84 and M.P. for the county 1774-80, as well as MP for Andover 1797-1821. He fostered the development of slate quarrying on his Welsh lands, one of the first to do so. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Watkins Wynn of Voelas; their son was a well-known hunter, cricketer, and sportsman.