Smythies was born in
Colchester, the son of the Rev. Charles Norfolk Smythies, vicar of St-Mary-at-the-Walls there, and his wife Isabella Travers, daughter of
Eaton Travers RN. He was educated at
Felsted School and
Trinity College, Cambridge, and
ordained in 1869. His first post was a
curacy in
Great Marlow, after which he was
Vicar of
Roath in Cardiff. Smythies was the fourth Bishop of the
Universities' Mission to Central Africa, and was consecrated on
30 November 1883, serving as
Bishop in Central Africa until that diocese was split (by his initiative) in 1892, and then of one of the parts,
Zanzibar, until his death. ==Notes==