William Henry Laird Smith (15 September 1869 – 21 October 1942), Australian politician and Minister for the Navy.

Smith was born in Westbury, Tasmania

Westbury, Tasmania

Westbury is a town in the central north of Tasmania, Australia. It lies 30 km west of Launceston on the Bass Highway, and at the 2006 census had a population of 1,357. It is part of, and the headquarters of, the Meander Valley Council area....

 and educated in state schools in Victoria and Tasmania. He became an electrician in Devonport

Devonport, Tasmania

-Sport:The Devonport Football Club is an Australian Rules team competing in the Tasmanian Statewide League. The Devonport Rugby Club is a Rugby Union team competing in the Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide League...

 and later an official in the Amalgamated Engineers' Union.

Smith was elected as the Australian Labor Party

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 member for the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

 seat of Denison

Division of Denison

The Division of Denison is anAustralian Electoral Division in Tasmania.The division was created in 1903 and is named for Sir William Denison, who was Lt-Governor of Van Diemens Land 1847-55...

 at the 1910 election

Australian federal election, 1910

Federal elections were held in Australia on 13 April 1910. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election...

. In December 1915, he married Mabel Ellen Russell—they had no children. He was an Assistant Minister during the Second Hughes Ministry

Second Hughes Ministry

The Second Hughes Ministry was the thirteenth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 14 November 1916 to 17 February 1917.National Labor Party*Rt Hon Billy Hughes, MP: Prime Minister, Attorney-General*Senator Hon George Pearce: Minister for Defence...

 from 14 November 1916 to 17 February 1917. He was a strong supporter of Prime Minister Billy Hughes

Billy Hughes

William Morris "Billy" Hughes, CH, KC, MHR , Australian politician, was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923....

 and campaigned for conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

 at the October 1916 plebiscite

Australian plebiscite, 1916

The 1916 Australian plebiscite was held on 28 October 1916. It was the first non-binding Australian plebiscite, and contained one question concerning Military Service....

. Smith left the Labor Party with Hughes and joined the Nationalist Party

Nationalist Party of Australia

The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...

 when it was established. In the Fifth Hughes Ministry

Fifth Hughes Ministry

The Fifth Hughes Ministry was the sixteenth Australian Commonwealth ministry, and ran from 4 February 1920 to 9 February 1923.Nationalist Party of Australia*Rt Hon Billy Hughes, MP: Prime Minister...

 he was an Honorary Minister from 4 February 1920 until he was made Minister for the Navy

Minister for Defence (Australia)

The Minister for Defence of Australia administers his portfolio through the Australian Defence Organisation, which comprises the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force. Stephen Smith is the current Minister.-Ministers for Defence:...

 on 28 July 1920. He was Minister for the Navy until 21 December 1921. He was obliged to carry out a significant reduction in the capacity of the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

, placing more of Australia's defence in the hands of the (British) Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. In December 1921, Hughes repaid Smith's loyalty by abolishing the position of naval minister. At the 1922 election

Australian federal election, 1922

Federal elections were held in Australia on 16 December 1922. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes lost its majority...

, he was opposed by Labor and two other independent Nationalist candidates and lost to Labor's David O'Keefe

David O'Keefe (Australian politician)

David John O'Keefe was an Australian politician. Born in Longford, Tasmania, he was educated at state schools before becoming a farm worker and miner. He was involved in the labour movement as a journalist and an organiser of the Australian Workers' Union...

.

Smith moved to Burnie

Burnie, Tasmania

- Sport :Australian rules football is popular in Burnie. The city's team is the Burnie Dockers Football Club in the Tasmanian State League.Rugby union is also played in Burnie. The local club is the Burnie Rugby Union Club. They are the current Tasmanian Rugby Union Statewide Division Two Premiers...

 and married his second wife Hermione Elsie Boldt in 1922. He eventually became a farmer. At the 1934 election

Australian federal election, 1934

Federal elections were held in Australia on 15 September 1934. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent United Australia Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons with coalition partner the Country Party led...

, he ran against Prime Minister Joseph Lyons

Joseph Lyons

Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...

 as a supporter of social credit

Douglas Credit Party

The Douglas Credit Party was an Australian political party based around the social credit theory of monetary reform, first set out by C. H. Douglas. It gained its strongest result in Queensland in 1935, when it gained 7.02% of first preferences. The party's strongest federal result was at the 1934...

. In 1938 he successfully applied for re-entry to the Labor Party. While officiating at an address by a Labor minister in Burnie in 1942 he suddenly died, survived by his wife and their adopted son.