He was born in
Rothesay on 1 April 1927, the son of Rev William Thomas Smellie, the local minister, and his wife, Jean Craig. He was educated at the
High School of Dundee and
Glasgow Academy. He graduated
B.Sc from the
University of St Andrews in 1947 but was then asked to serve two years
National Service. During this period he was commissioned into the
Royal Scots Fusiliers and with the Chemical Defence Establishment at
Porton Down, where he worked on nerve gases. In 1949 he became assistant to Professor Norman Davidson at the University of Glasgow. In 1964 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were
James Norman Davidson,
Robert Garry,
Hamish Munro and
Michael Stoker. He served as General Secretary of the Society 1976 to 1986 and won their Bicentenary Medal in 1986. In 1966 he became Professor of Biochemistry at Glasgow. He died on 12 March 1988. ==Family==