The son of Augustus Smith, he was born on the Isle of Wight at Sandown in October 1884.
[1] Following the completion of his education, Smith joined the Hampshire Regiment as a second lieutenant in July 1903.
[4] He made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Somerset at Southampton in the 1908 County Championship.
[8] Smith returned to the Hampshire Regiment as a second lieutenant in August 1914, at the beginning of the First World War.
In his early days he was a keen rugby union player, representing Blackheath F.C., Trojans and the Barbarians, while at county level he played for Hampshire.