Pleasance Smith (née Reeve; 11 May 1773 – 3 February 1877) was an English letter writer, literary editor, and centenarian.

[1] Smith was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk in 1773, the fifth child of attorney Robert Reeve and Pleasance (née Clerke).

[1] She was acknowledged for her beauty, with William Roscoe writing in 1804 that ‘he who could see and hear Mrs. Smith without being enchanted has a heart not worth a farthing.’[2] Pleasance outlived James Edward Smith by nearly five decades, maintaining a wide circle of friends and correspondents, with whom she discussed matters of science, art, religion, the humanities, and the natural world.

[1] Smith became 'known for her generosity and philanthropic work',[4] as well as for giving advice 'freely on matters as diverse as religious questions and new knitting patterns'.

[2] It was said too that she 'never lost her interest in political and literary topics, or her sympathy with modern movements', 'did not think the past age better than the present, and met fears of the dangerous tendencies of modern science with the remark, ‘I am for inquiry.’'[2] Pleasance Smith died at home on 3 February 1877, and buried beside her husband at St. Margaret's Church, Lowestoft.