Ann Smith

Ann Smith ( 1682–1686) was an English anti-Catholic political activist. A devout Baptist, she and her family sheltered the rebel 9th Earl of Argyll when he was in hiding in London and fled with him to the Spanish Netherlands in 1683. She lived with her husband in Utrecht and following his death funded Argyll's Rising in Scotland and the contemporaneous Monmouth Rebellion in England. She hosted fellow conspirator Elizabeth Gaunt in Amsterdam and received a royal pardon for her activism in 1686, after which time records of her life cease. Early life Nothing is known of Ann Smith's early life before 1682. At that time, it was recorded she was married to a prosperous sugar-baker in London and involved in the business, pursuing a debt owed by the nephew of the Spanish ambassador. Together they had at least one child. Political activism After the Exclusion Crisis ended in 1681, King Charles II cracked down upon religious dissenters and this may have motivated Smith to take political action, since she was a devout Baptist. She was acquainted with the rebel Major Abraham Holmes and Presbyterian minister Robert Ferguson, who was known as "the Plotter" for his involvement with conspiracies such as the Rye House Plot and the Monmouth Rebellion. Ann Smith also knew Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, who was to lead Argyll's Rising in 1685. This was a failed attempt to unseat the Catholic King James II of England (also James VII of Scotland), which was mainly funded by Smith. The Scottish Presbyterian and politician Argyll had been charged with treason in 1681 and was condemned to death. He escaped from Edinburgh Castle and fled to London. He met Ann Smith via Abraham Holmes and she arranged for him and his servant to be housed in secret. Firstly they lived in a tenement building close to where Smith lived in Battersea, then they moved to a more comfortable house in Brentford. Whilst in London, Argyll had covert meetings with the Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, in the summer of 1682 to discuss rebellion and also met with the Arthur Forbes, 1st Earl of Granard, who was considering an uprising in Ireland; by the autumn Argyll was forced to flee to the Spanish Netherlands to avoid arrest.