Arthur R. Smith (November 8, 1805 – September 16, 1865) was a nineteenth-century American medical doctor and politician from Virginia.
Early life Smith was born in Suffolk, Virginia. He was educated in local county schools, and received a Medical Doctorate from the University of Virginia in 1825-1826.Pulliam 1901, p. 111
Career
As an adult, Smith lived in Norfolk County, Virginia (now Chesapeake) and practiced medicine there at Deep Creek. He attended medical lectures in Philadelphia in 1848.Pulliam 1901, p. 111
Smith was elected to the Virginia state Senate, and in 1856 relocated his practice to Portsmouth.Pulliam 1901, p. 111
In 1850, Smith was elected to the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850. He was one of four delegates elected from the southeastern delegate district made up of his home district of Norfolk County, Norfolk City and Princess Anne County.Pulliam 1901, p. 99
Elected to the Virginia Senate for the session 1852/53, Smith was reelected for the 1853/54 session.Swem 1918, p.429
Smith was a member of the Democratic National Convention of 1860 at Charleston, South Carolina. Elected to the Virginia Secession Convention of 1861, he voted for secession.Pulliam 1901, p. 111
During the American Civil War, Smith was banished from Portsmouth by General Benjamin Butler. Smith ran the blockade, and served in Confederate hospitals in Richmond, Virginia, and Farmville.Pulliam 1901, p. 111
Death Arthur R. Smith died on September 16, 1865, in Catonsville, Maryland, shortly after moving there following his Confederate hospital service.Pulliam 1901, p. 111
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