Harman Gilbert Smith was a senior orthopaedic surgeon at Middlemore Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand. He was born in Whangarei, New Zealand, on 10 October 1915 and studied medicine in Dunedin, qualifying in 1940. His first posts were as house surgeon and registrar at Auckland and Greenlane hospitals.

'Sealy' (as he was widely known) was born in Randalstown County Antrim, Northern Ireland. He was the only child of William and Agnes Wood. His mother, a New Zealander, was one of the "First 50" nurses to serve in the First World War. She returned to New Zealand with Sealy when he was two years old a