Background
Smith was the son of Francis Smith, Justice of the Peace of Salt Hill, Chichester and his wife Mary Ann Levin.
Smith was the son of Francis Smith, Justice of the Peace of Salt Hill, Chichester and his wife Mary Ann Levin.
He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.
He was baptised at New Fishbourne, West Sussex although he had some Jewish ancestry. He suffered from the pituitary disorder, acromegaly, which caused him to grow to nearly 7 feet (21 m) tall. Athletic as well as tall, he rowed for Cambridge in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in the 1857, 1858 and 1859 races.
In 1858 he was in the winning crews at Henley Royal Regatta in the Grand Challenge Cup with the Cambridge University Boating Club and in the Visitors Challenge Cup and the Wyfold Challenge Cup with First Trinity Boat Club.
In the 1859 Boat Race "the race was rowed in a gale of wind, and the Cambridge boat filled and sank between Barnes Bridge and the finish. Smith was admitted at the Inner Temple on 27 May 1856 and was called to the Bar on 17 November 1860.
He was engaged on the Home Circuit and became Judge of the High Court of Justice (Queen"s Bench Division) in 1883. He was then knighted and became an honorary bencher.
In 1892 he became Lord Justice of Appeal, in which capacity he ruled on Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company
On 24 October 1900 became Master of the Rolls, a position he held for almost a year until his resignation a few days before his death. He was a right-handed batsman who scored 16 runs with a highest score of 7. He was appointed Chairman of the Historical Manuscript Commission in March 1901.
Smith lived at Salt Hill, Chichester, and 40 Cadogan Place, London.
Sir Archibald fell ill and also died in Aberlour less than two months later, on 20 October 1901, at the age of 65. Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company
Parnell Commission
Mara v Browne.
Smith alone of the Cambridge oarsmen could not swim, and sat stolidly rowing until, when the water was up to his neck, he was rescued." In later years he regularly bet a new hat on the Boat Race with West.B. Woodgate "on principle and from patriotism to his flag, even when public favour and market odds might seem to be dead against the hopes of his own club".
Smith was a keen amateur cricketer and a member of Marylebone Cricket Club (Master Control Console) for whom he played in two first-class matches 1861 to 1864.