Charles Abercrombie Smith was born on 12 May 1834 in St Cyrus, Kincardineshire, Scotland, and studied physics and mathematics at the University of Glasgow.

[1] He initially working as a land surveyor in the Eastern Cape (near Kat River) for a few years, where he became somewhat acquainted with the Xhosa people, language and culture, as well as with the pressures on their communities.

He was Commissioner at a time of extremely rapid economic and social development at the Cape, and did significant work on the reduction of public debt, the tender process, as well as education and infrastructure.

[2] In 1875, in an unparalleled move, Molteno removed Smith from his cabinet and appointed him to the esteemed position of Auditor-General in the Cape's Civil Service.

He produced a range of ground-breaking reports and papers, headed various commissions and became deeply involved in the founding of many of the Cape's most influential institutions.

Smith helped to set up the Meteorological Commission of the Cape of Good Hope and for 37 years he was its chairman, overseeing enormous growth, up until the Union of South Africa in 1910.