He was born in Dundee to storeman James Crockett Smith and Annie Don.
He studied at Scotch College and at the University of Melbourne, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1909.
He served in the Australian Imperial Force from 1915 to 1918, and was wounded at the Battle of Polygon Wood in 1917.
While on active duty, he was defeated at the 1917 state election, and on his return after the war worked as an assistant censor and then as a school teacher in New South Wales.
On 4 July 1921, he married fellow teacher Flora Walker, née McLellan; they had three children.