1153 William Bickford-Smith

Constituency : Truro  1885-92  ( from  1886  Liberal Unionist )

William  succeeded  Edward  Willyams  and  a  Tory  as  Truro  was  reduced  to  a  single  member.

William  came  from  the  town. His  grandfather  had  established  a  business  making  mining  fuses. He  was  educated  at  Saltash  and  Plymouth. He  was  a  partner  in  the  family  business  and  chairman  of  Helston  Railway. In  1882  he  paid  for  the  building  of  the  Bickford-Smith  Institute  in  Porthleven  as  a  scientific  and  literary  institute. He  was  a  Methodist.

William's  only  Parliamentary  contribution  was  to  formally  second  Sir  John  St  Aubyn's  attempt  to  amend  the  Stannaries  Act  in  1886.

William  joined  the  Liberal  Unionists  in  1886.

William  stood  down  in  1892.

He  died  in  1899  aged  71.