 Smith served as the Chairman of Yule Catto & Company Ltd (present-day Synthomer), Governor of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation from 1914 to 1956, and a Director of Morgan Grenfell & Co.Between 1934 and 1956, he also held the honorary position of Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire.On 29 June 1938, Smith was raised to the peerage as Baron Bicester, of Tusmore in the County of Oxford.