Dr Edward Smith FRS (1819–1874) was a British physician and medical writer, born at Heanor, Derbyshire.

According to his obituary, he failed to inspire the friendship of his colleagues, but more recent evaluations have noted that he "deserves to be better remembered by nutritionists, both for his contributions to the physiological basis of nutrition, and for his pioneering field surveys of dietary intake in relation to need among low income social groups".

In the following year he visited north-east Texas, to examine its capacity as a place of settlement for emigrants, and published an account of the journey and a report with charts of temperature and the new constitution of the state (London, 1849).

[1] They were able to show as Smith had suggested that the chemical energy required for muscular effort does not come primarily from consumed protein but from fats and carbohydrates.

[3] His wife, Matilda Frearson, died in Edinburgh in 1895 and is buried in Dean Cemetery together with their daughter, Anna Maria Smith (1845-1925).