Sir Sidney Smith is remembered in history for a single episode - his successful siege of Acre (with the help of Turkish troops) against Napoleon in 1799, which virtually stymied French ambitions in the Near East. It made him almost as famous as Nelson, but Smith's later career was mainly anticlimax, due mainly to his bombastic, eccentric, rather vainglorious character. His political judgment was usually disastrous, yet he could not be kept apart from politics, and the Admiralty often found him an embarrassment in spite of his obvious energy and ability. Ironically, he ended up as an exile in Paris, eccentric and colourful to the last.
Brian Fallon