Wentworth Smith - Life and Career

Life and Career

Smith, the son of one William Smith, was born in early March 1571 and baptized March 9, 1571 in St. James Garlichythe, London. He married Agnes Gymber September 29, 1594 in London. At this time he was employed as a scrivener, an occupation with which he continued to be identified as late as the death of his son in 1614.

That he is known as a writer is due entirely to the presence of his name in the account book of Philip Henslowe. Between April, 1601 and March, 1603, Smith produced fifteen plays acted by the playing companies of Admiral's Men and Worcester's Men at Henslowe's Rose Theater, some singly but most in partnership with other playwrights who also wrote for Henslowe. None of the works in which he had a hand is extant.

The last certain notice linking Smith to his dramatic profession is from June 6, 1605, when with one Elizabeth Lewes he witnessed the will of his dramatic collaborator William Haughton. He may have continued writing plays, though as Henslowe ceased recording the names of his writers after 1603 this cannot be confirmed.

Smith's first wife died in 1602 and he married Mary Poteman in Whitechapel on May 16, 1607. His children Katherine and Wentworth were baptized in 1607 and 1610, respectively; the younger Wentworth died in 1614, but it is not known when Smith himself died, or even if he was still living at the time of his son's death.