The rapid rise of Smirke was due to political patronage. He was a Tory at a time when this party was in the ascendant. His friends at the Royal Academy, such as Sir Thomas Lawrence, George Dance, Benjamin West and Joseph Farington, were able to introduce him to patrons such as: The 1st Marquess of Abercorn; The 1st Viscount Melville; Sir George Beaumont, 7th Baronet; The 4th Earl of Aberdeen; The 3rd Marquess of Hertford; The 3rd Earl Bathurst; John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, and The 2nd Earl of Lonsdale. These politicians and aristocrats ensured his rapid advancement and several were to commission buildings from Smirke themselves. Thomas Leverton Donaldson described Smirke as able to please "Men whom it was proverbially impossible to please". His patron at Lowther Castle, The 1st Earl of Lonsdale, said he was "ingenious, modest and gentlemanly in his manners".