He was born in London, to theatre proprietor Edward Tyrell Smith and his wife Madeline Hanette Gengoult.
[1] Louis attended St Saviour's Grammar School and the Ecole de Médecine in Paris before entering Westminster Hospital.
In 1852, he migrated to Victoria as surgeon on the Oriental and, after briefly mining gold, established a popular, unconventional medical practice in Melbourne.
In 1859, he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the member for South Bourke, serving until 1865.
[2] His daughter, Louise Hanson-Dyer, was a noted music publisher and arts patron, while his son, Sir Harold Gengoult Smith, was a Lord Mayor of Melbourne.