Who was Thomas Smith?

Thomas Smith was a Merchant-Burgess of Edinburgh[1]. His father, a skipper out of Broughty Ferry, was drowned at sea while Thomas was still young[1]. He founded a solid business in lamps and oils and was the sole proprietor of a concern called the Greenside Company's Works[1].

In August 1786, he was dubbed engineer to the newly formed Board of Northern Lighthouses[1]. On the 9th of July of the same year, Thomas Smith had been left for the second time a widower, and in June 1787 he married the widow of Alan Stevenson[1].