[2] He was noted as a tea merchant,[3] and his sister Jane Smeal was also a leading abolitionist.

His presence there was captured in a portrait, where he appears alongside other Quakers such as Josiah Forster, businessmen such as Tapper Cadbury and Samuel Fox, bankers such as George Head Head, and other prominent abolitionists from a number of countries including America, South Africa and Jamaica.

[5] Smeal died in 1877, and his obituary recorded his interests in opposing injustice throughout his life.

He opposed the corn laws, alcohol, stamp duties, capital punishment, war and slavery.

[5] His sister Jane was a leader of the anti-slavery movement, and her stepdaughter Eliza Wigham was a noted campaigner for abolitionism and women's rights.