Born in Leith, Smith (1805-1881) was a solicitor of radical instincts who in 1839 through Richard Cobden became a lecturer for the Anti-Corn Law League, soon becoming one of their most popular speakers. He moved to London in 1841 to take appointment as secretary to the Metropolitan Anti-Corn Law Association and became an election agent, master-minding the election of a free trade candidate in the City of London in 1843. He was then made secretary of the City of London Liberal Registration Association, a post he held for thirty-three years. From 1847 to 1858 he ran election campaigns of Baron Lionel de Rothschild which culminated in the bill enabling Jews to take their seats in parliament.