Career
Born in Yorkshire, Smithies was living in Sheffield in 1827 when he was received into the Methodist ministry. In 1828 the Wesleyan Missionary Society appointed him as a missionary to Newfoundland where he spent nine years. In 1837, following sectarian tensions on the island, he returned to England for two years, including 12 months in Derbyshire.
He was immediately introduced to an established fellow missionary, Francis Armstrong.
Smithies" double mandate was "the pastoral care of colonists and the Christianization of the Aborigines". He was transferred to Van Diemen"s Land (Tasmania) in 1855 and remained there until his death in 1872.