Background
Smyly was the son of the surgeon Sir Philip Crampton Smyly, Surgeon-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria and to successive Lords-Lieutenant of Ireland, and grandson of Ellen Smyly. His mother was the Honorary
Smyly was the son of the surgeon Sir Philip Crampton Smyly, Surgeon-in-Ordinary to Queen Victoria and to successive Lords-Lieutenant of Ireland, and grandson of Ellen Smyly. His mother was the Honorary
Selina Marina Plunket, daughter of the 3rd Baron Plunket. He was Attorney general of when he was appointed Chief Justice of that protectorate in November 1901. He was knighted in 1905 and held the post until 1911.
His photographs from his stay in are kept as part of the Royal Commonwealth Society collection held in the Cambridge University Library.
He was appointed Chief Justice of the (today"s Ghana) on 14 September 1911. The Governor at the time of his appointment in the was Sir James Thorburn, but most of his career in the was under two Governors of unusual qualities, Sir Hugh Clifford (1912-1919) and Sir Gordon Guggisberg (1919-1927).