Smedley Darlington

Smedley Darlington

Smedley Darlington (born December 24, 1827 in Pocopson , Chester County , Pennsylvania , †  June 24, 1899 in West Chester , Pennsylvania) was an American politician . Between 1887 and 1891 he represented the state of Pennsylvania in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Smedley Darlington was a second cousin of Congressmen Edward Darlington (1795-1884), Isaac Darlington (1781-1839) and William Darlington (1782-1863). He attended the public schools in his home country and the Friends' Central School in Philadelphia . After that he worked as a teacher at this school for a few years. At the same time he drafted shorthand reports of all kinds for the morning news of the Philadelphia newspapers. In 1851 he founded a school in Ercildoun , which he directed for twelve years. In 1861 and 1862 he participated in the Civil War as a soldier in the Pennsylvania State Militia . He made it to the captain. Since 1864 Darlington lived in West Chester, where he worked in banking and stock exchange business. Politically, he first became a member of the short-lived Liberal Republican Party . In 1872 he took part as a delegate at their federal party conference in Cincinnati , where Horace Greeley was nominated as a presidential candidate. He later joined the Republican Party .

In the congressional elections of 1886 Darlington was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the sixth constituency of Pennsylvania , where he succeeded James Bowen Everhart on March 4, 1887 . After re-election, he was able to complete two legislative terms in Congress until March 3, 1891 . In 1890 he renounced another candidacy.

After his tenure in the US House of Representatives, Darlington resumed his previous banking and stockbroking activities. In June 1896 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in St. Louis , at which William McKinley was nominated as a presidential candidate. Smedley Darlington died in West Chester on June 24, 1899. His grandson, Smedley Darlington Butler (1881–1940), became a highly decorated major general in the United States Marine Corps .

Web links

• Smedley Darlington in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Smedley Darlington in the database of Find a Grave (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
James Bowen Everhart	United States House Representative for Pennsylvania (6th constituency) March 4, 1887 - March 3, 1891	John Buchanan Robinson