He was born in
England in 1780. His father was
James Carmichael Smyth, a
Scottish physician and he was educated at
Charterhouse School. In 1797, at the age of seventeen, he was commissioned into the
Bengal Artillery. On arriving in
Bengal that same year he was deployed on a military expedition to the
Philippines. When the expedition was abandoned he returned from
Penang and served in
Allahabad. In 1803 the
Second Anglo-Maratha War broke out, and he was present at the battles of
Aligarh,
Delhi and
Laswari. In May 1804 he accompanied a force against Rampoora, and later served at the
Battle of Deeg and
Siege of Deeg where he was mentioned in dispatches. In 1805 he was present at the
Siege of Bharatpur and after it was abandoned he was made garrison engineer at
Agra. The following year in 1806 he directed the attack on
Gohud. He returned to
England in 1807 due to ill health. During the
Anglo-Nepalese War between 1814 and 1816 he served in all the operations under
Sir David Ochterlony. In February 1817 he assisted in the reduction of
Hathras. That same year he joined the army of
Lord Hastings in the
Third Anglo-Maratha War. ==References==