Both of them were heavily influenced by Frederick Faber, an apostle of John Henry Newman, leader of the Oxford Movement.

[2] Along with Disraeli, Manners, and Alexander Baillie-Cochrane, they comprised "Young England", a sect of the Conservative Party which, in espousing a romantic Toryism, was often at odds with the moderate, business-like administration of then-Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel.

In 1844 he wrote Historic Fancies, a collection of poems and essays, and his novel Angelo Pisani was published posthumously, with a memoir of the author in 1875.

At his last electoral appearance in 1852, Smythe fought a duel with his fellow MP, Colonel Romilly (the last such encounter in England),[4] and lost the election in a landslide.

Smythe succeeded to his father's peerage in 1855 and died on 27 November 1857 at the relatively young age of 39 at Bradgate House, Groby, Leicestershire.