He was sent by his father to Amsterdam for a year to complete his school education, and entered in 1760 Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A.
When the headship of his college became vacant in 1778; but he declined the offer of it, and was promoted by Bishop James Yorke in 1796 to the rectory of Leverington, in the Isle of Ely.
As magistrate for Cambridgeshire and chairman for many years of the sessions at Cambridge and Ely, he studied the Poor Laws and other economic questions affecting his district.
After a long illness he died at Leverington on 16 October 1808, aged 67, and was buried in the church, where his widow erected a monument to his memory on the north side of the chancel.
[2] The assistance of Nasmith is acknowledged in the preface to Henry Swinden's History of Great Yarmouth, which was edited by John Ives in 1772.