Born on 25 November 1825 in
Westminster and educated at
Bedford School, Smyth was commissioned as second lieutenant in the
Royal Artillery in 1843. He served in the
Crimean War and was present at the
Siege of Sevastopol. He became commandant of
Woolwich garrison and military district in 1882 and General Officer Commanding the troops in
South Africa in 1886. In 1888 Smyth mustered an army of 2,000 troops and left for
Zululand to put down a rebellion there. Smyth became acting
Governor of Cape Colony as well as acting
High Commissioner for Southern Africa in 1889. He became
Governor of Malta in 1890, and, as his A.D.C., took with him from South Africa his elder sister's 32-year-old son
Robert Baden-Powell. Smyth retired in 1893 aged 68. ==Family==