[3] On 12 October 1788 Lord Penrhyn visited Merseyside, riding the liberties of the borough of Sefton, and Smyth accompanied him.
The occasion was seen as largely political and symbolic, part of the contest between Lord Penrhyn, whose title was in the Peerage of Ireland and who was the sitting Member of Parliament for Liverpool at the time, and Banastre Tarleton.
Lord Penrhyn and Bamber Gascoyne the younger were candidates posing as defenders of Liverpool's commercial interests, against abolitionists, such as Tarleton.
[6] Smyth's term as mayor also brought to the surface a related sharp rivalry with John Sparling, his successor the following year.
[8] Smyth became bankrupt in 1793, when the bank failed, hit by the fall in the price of cotton at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars.
[10] The impact in Liverpool of the failure of Charles Caldwell & Co. was serious on business confidence, and there was a failed attempt to obtain a loan from the Bank of England.