Sir Harold Gengoult Smith (25 July 1890 – 14 April 1983) was an Australian medical practitioner who served as

Lord Mayor of Melbourne This is a list of the mayors and lord mayors of the City of Melbourne, a local government area of Victoria, Australia. Mayors (1842–1902) Lord mayors (1902–1980) The title of "Lord Mayor" was conferred on the position of mayor by Ki ...

from 1931 to 1934. Smith was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to Marion Jane (née Higgins) and Louis Lawrence Smith, both English immigrants. His father was a doctor and member of parliament, while his sister was the musical publisher Louise Hanson-Dyer. Smith attended

Melbourne Grammar School (Pray and Work) , established = 1849 (on present site since 1858 - the celebrated date of foundation) , type = Independent, co-educational primary, single-sex boys secondary, day and boarding , denomination ...

and then moved to Scotland to study medicine. However, his studies were interrupted by the war and he instead enlisted in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, serving in France with the

2nd Dragoon Guards The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse. Renamed several t ...

. Smith eventually received his qualifications in medicine in 1917. He subsequently returned to Australia and began practising at his father's chambers on Collins Street.John Young, 'Smith, Sir Harold Gengoult (1890–1983)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/smith-sir-harold-gengoult-15901/text27102, published first in hardcopy 2012, accessed online 14 August 2017. In 1921, Smith was elected to the

Melbourne City Council The City of Melbourne is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the central city area of Melbourne. In 2018, the city has an area of and had a population of 169,961. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. The c ...

. After the retirement of

Harold Luxton Sir Harold Daniel Luxton (25 June 1888 – 24 October 1957) was an Australian politician. He was born in Kangaroo Flat to Thomas Luxton and Sarah Schooling. He was a director of J. McEwan and Company from 1910, and on 17 November 1909 marr ...

, he defeated J. J. Liston by a single vote in the lord-mayoral election. In 1933, Smith married Cynthia Brookes, the daughter of tennis player Sir

Norman Brookes Sir Norman Everard Brookes (14 November 187728 September 1968) was an Australian tennis player. During his career he won three Grand Slam singles titles; Wimbledon in 1907 and 1914 (the first non-British individual to do so) and the Austral ...

; their wedding at St Paul's Cathedral was one of the events of the year. As lord mayor, Smith chaired many of the organising committees for the 1934 Centenary of Melbourne. He personally came up with the idea of the

MacRobertson Air Race The MacRobertson Trophy Air Race (also known as the London to Melbourne Air Race) took place in October 1934 as part of the Melbourne Centenary celebrations. The race was devised by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sir Harold Gengoult Smith, and th ...

to draw international attention to the city, and convinced

Macpherson Robertson Sir Macpherson Robertson KBE (6 September 185920 August 1945) was an Australian philanthropist, entrepreneur and founder of chocolate and confectionery company '' MacRobertson's''. He was also known for bringing the United States inventions of ...

to sponsor it. As part of the centenary Melbourne also unveiled Cooks' Cottage and the

Shrine of Remembrance The Shrine of Remembrance (commonly referred to as The Shrine) is a war memorial in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in Kings Domain on St Kilda Road. It was built to honour the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I, but ...

. Smith retired as lord mayor at the end of 1934 (and received a knighthood), but remained on the city council until 1965 – the longest serving councillor in city history. He was an unsuccessful candidate of the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

at the 1940 state election. During World War II, Smith was a

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

in the

Australian Army Medical Corps The Royal Australian Army Medical Corps (RAAMC) is the branch of the Australian Army responsible for providing medical care to Army personnel. The AAMC was formed in 1902 through the amalgamation of medical units of the various Australian coloni ...

and commanded several medical units. He died at the age of 92.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Harold 1890 births 1983 deaths Mayors and Lord Mayors of Melbourne Medical doctors from Melbourne British Army personnel of World War I Australian military personnel of World War II People educated at Melbourne Grammar School United Australia Party politicians Australian Knights Bachelor