Howard Smith was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, Princess Royal University Hospital, Bromley and Queen Mary's, Sidcup. Born in Macclesfield on 4 April 1938, he was the son of Frank, a coachbuilder and his wife Annie née Holland. His secondary education was at Hanley High School in Stoke-on-Trent and Selhurst Grammar School in Croyden. From there he proceeded to London University and trained at Charing Cross Hospital graduating MB, BS in 1961 and passing the fellowship in 1967. He was the first trainee to do the full rotation of the Percival Pott Rotation in orthopaedics at St Bartholomew's Hospital from 1968 to 1973. During this period he attended the Edinburgh hand surgery course (1968) instructed by Charles Manning, Alan Lettin and Geoffrey Fisk, followed by the Charnley hip course (c.1972) with Ken McKee, J. G Taylor and John Fixen. He joined the Bromley Hospital Group as consultant orthopaedic surgeon in 1973 and became clinical director in 1993, retiring in 1998. A special interest was children's orthopaedics and hip and knee replacement in very young patients. In 1960 he married Marion Joyce Mardle and they had 4 children; Graham (born 1963) who was an accountant, Rosemary (born 1966) a veterinary surgeon, Neil (born 1970) an IT specialist, and Katherine (born 1975) a graphic designer. He enjoyed golf, travel and gardening. He died on 24 March 2009, aged 70 years.