He was born on 8 February 1810 at Peebles, where his father, Thomas Smibert, a leather-merchant, was provost (1808–11); his mother's name was Janet Tait.
Educated there, he was apprenticed to a druggist, and then qualified as a surgeon at Edinburgh University.
[1] Smibert set up as a surgeon at Innerleithen, near Peebles, but left after a year when faced by personal and business problems.
From Peebles he contributed to Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, of which he became sub-editor and editor between 1837 and 1842.
[1] In 1842 Smibert became sub-editor of The Scotsman, but a legacy meant he shortly dropped journalism for literature.