Henry Lilley Smith (1788-1859) was born and bred in Southam, Warwickshire. After an apprenticeship to a surgeon-apothecary, he attended Guy-s Hospital (where he was a -surgical dresser- to the distinguished Guy-s surgeon Sir Astley Cooper). After a period of secondment to the Army whilst a student, treating repatriated soldiers following the disastrous battle of Corunna in the Peninsular war, he returned to Guy-s and completed his studies, becoming a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1810.
He was to spend his entire professional career in Southam; initially appointed Parish Surgeon, in 1818 he established an -Infirmary for the Treatment of Diseases of the Eye and Ear- in the town, where he provided his services entirely without charge, and then, in 1823, opened a Provident (or -self-sufficient-) Dispensary - -the first in the Kingdom- - for the medical care of the local working-class population and their families. Despite sustained professional opposition d
