Harry Abraham Smith, civil engineer, attended the Normal
College Boys' High School in Cape Town and passed the matriculation examination
of the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1912. He continued his studies at
the South African College, Cape Town (from 1918 the University of Cape Town)
and in 1916 was awarded the Diploma in Civil Engineering with Honours
(equivalent to BSc Hons) and received the gold medal of the Corporation of the
city of Cape Town for that year. For the next four years he worked as an
assistant engineer in the Public Works Department of the Union of South Africa
and then joined the Durban Municipality as an assistant engineer in 1920.
In 1928 Smith was promoted to deputy resident engineer on
the design and construction of the Shongweni Dam Water Scheme for Durban.
Subsequently, as chief assistant engineer and city sewerage engineer, he was
responsible for many of the roads, bridges, drainage and sewerage schemes,
public buildings, housing schemes and town planning in the expanding city. In
February 1939 he became deputy city and water engineer and in September that
year succeeded Mr W.M. Campbell as city and water engineer. One of his most
important achievements was the execution of the Umgeni Water Scheme, one of the
largest of its kind in South Africa. He retired in 1954, less than three weeks
before his death.
Smith was a member of the Engineers' Association of South
Africa and the (British) Institution of Civil Engineers, an associate member of
the (British) Institution of Mechanical Engineers, a member of the American
Society of Civil Engineers, and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Sanitary
Engineers. He was the author of many papers on engineering subjects.
