Born in Ireland, Wilson-Smith emigrated to Canada in 1878 settling in Montreal, Quebec.

A few years after arriving in Montreal, he became publisher and chief editor of the Insurance and Finance Chronicle.

In 1893, he was elected to the Montreal City Council as an alderman for St. Lawrence Ward.

He ran unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate for the House of Commons of Canada for the riding St. Lawrence in the 1896 federal election.

He was one of the original directors of the Lachine Rapids Hydraulic and Land Company, which undertook successfully the development of the vast water power of the Lachine Rapids.