Beatrice Smith was a surgeon at the South London and Marie Curie hospitals. She was born on 21 April 1903 in Stowmarket, Suffolk, the only child of Walter James Smith, a corn merchant, and Beatrice Amy née Gostling. She was educated at the Mount School, York, and University College Hospital, where she did house appointments in medicine and obstetrics and gynaecology. After a period as house surgeon at the County Hospital in York she returned to London as a surgical registrar at the Royal Free Hospital. She was appointed consultant surgeon at the South London and Marie Curie hospitals. During the war Beatrice served in the Emergency Medical Service. She married in 1936. Her married name was Riekie. After her retirement she devoted herself to music and gardening.