Son of vi­o­lin­ist Henry Smart (1778-1823), Smart stu­died mu­sic with his fa­ther and W. H. Kearns. He de­clined a com­miss­ion in the In­di­an ar­my, and had planned to work in law, but gave it up for a mu­sic­al ca­reer. He played the or­gan at Black­burn Par­ish Church, Lanc­a­shire (1831-6); St. Giles, Crip­ple­gate (1836-8); St. Phil­ip’s, Re­gent Street (1838-9); St. Luke’s, Old Street (1844-64); and St. Pan­cras Church (1865-79). He went blind in 1864, but con­tin­ued to com­pose. He was the mu­sic ed­it­or for Psalms and Hymns for Di­vine Wor­ship (1867), the Pres­by­ter­i­an Hymn­al (1875) and the hymn book of the Unit­ed Pres­by­ter­i­an Church of Scot­land. He was a re­cog­nized au­thor­i­ty on or­gans, and drew up spe­ci­fi­ca­tions for ma­ny of the in­stru­ments, in­clud­ing those in the C­ity Hall and St. An­drew’s Hall in Glas­gow, Scot­land, and the Town Hall in Leeds.