Francis Smith

Francis Smith (d. 1691) was a bookseller and General Baptist minister in London. He was apprenticed to Thomas Hazard, stationer, in 1647. His first imprint was a work by a Baptist writer and appeared in 1653. He opened a business in Fleet Street in 1654, assisted by several General Baptist ministers who wanted his establishment to print and distribute tracts supporting their theological positions. During the Restoration he was seen as a political threat and was often imprisoned for his publications and other activities. Among his own writings are Symptomes of Growth and Decay to Godlinesse. His wife, Eleanor, worked with him in his trade and continued it during his imprisonments and after his death. He was accused of being a Fifth Monarchist in 1661 and imprisoned for treason and fined. During the 1660s, however, he was the primary publisher of John Bunyan, including his Grace Abounding (1666). In 1679 he published the Popish Plot narratives, and several seditious tracts. He was in and out of prison for most of his life after 1660. By 1680 he was considered by the authorities as the most fanatical of the republican printers and a dangerous ‘Anabaptist’. He was in prison for most of 1684-88. He died in 1691 and was buried in Bunhill Fields. He was a deep believer in the right of conscience and free speech.