He was educated at the British and Foreign schools in Falmouth, and in Plymouth where his father retired in 1808, when the lease of his farm expired.
In 1812 he returned with his parents to Cornwall, and was employed for several years in farm work and carpentering.
He was chairman of the Cornwall Railway to January 1864, overseeing the construction of the line from Plymouth to Truro and Falmouth.
[2] Smith died at his house, Trevu, Camborne, on 30 August 1868, and was buried in the Wesleyan Centenary Chapel cemetery on 4 September.
They had four children, the eldest of whom, William Bickford-Smith, represented in parliament the Truro division of Cornwall from 1885 to 1892.