Lieutenant-General Sir John Rowland Smyth (1803 — 14 May 1873) was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army who saw service in British India.
Early life and education
Smyth was born at Ballynatray House, Templemichael, County Waterford, the fifth and youngest son of Grice Smyth and his wife, Mary Brodrick Mitchell. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin.
He had three sisters, including Gertrude, who married William Hughes, 1st Baron Dinorben, and Penelope, who eloped with HRH Prince Charles of the Two Sicilies, Prince of Capua.
Career
Smyth was commissioned as a cornet into the on 5 July 1821 and, promoted to Lieutenant on 26 May 1825, he fought at the Capture of Bharatpur later that year. He was made a Captain on 22 April 1826, and transferred to the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot. After 10 years with the 32nd he moved to the 6th Dragoon Guards, before being given a year-long leave of absence in 1830 to serve a prison sentence. Smyth had fought one of the last duels in the United Kingdom, and both he and his second, Capt. Frederick Markham, were imprisoned for manslaughter in the death of Standish Stanley O'Grady on 18 March 1830 in Ireland.
