Smith collapsed and died on a Sunday at his home of a liver haemorrhage, aged 52, and was buried in St Peter's Church graveyard, Woolton.

[4] The courtship lasted almost seven years, but Smith grew tired of waiting, so after delivering milk to the hospital one morning he gave her an ultimatum that she must marry him, "or nothing at all!

They bought a semi-detached house called Mendips (named after the range of hills) at 251 Menlove Avenue (across the road from the Allerton Park golf course) in a middle-class area of Liverpool.

[8] Menlove Avenue suffered extensive damage during the war, and Smith and his wife often had to throw a wet blanket on incendiary bombs that fell in their garden.

[9] Smith was called up for military service, but was discharged three years later, and subsequently worked in an aircraft factory in Speke until the end of the war.

[2][10] During 1942–1943, Mimi's sister Julia lived with Lennon at The Dairy Cottage; 120a Allerton Road, Woolton, which was owned by the Smith family.

[11] Lennon lived with Smith and his wife for the majority of his childhood when his mother Julia (under pressure from the local authorities, Mimi, and the Stanley family) was told that she was unable to care for her son.

[13][14] Smith was very fond of Lennon, and his softer approach to parenting was in stark contrast to his stern wife,[2] who based everything on decorum, honesty and a black-and-white attitude; either you were good enough or you were not.

[1] At the time of Smith's death, the fourteen-year-old Lennon was visiting members of the Stanley family in Sango Bay, Durness, Scotland, and was not informed until he returned home.

[2][22] In the same year as Smith's death, the McCartney family moved to 20 Forthlin Road, just three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) from Mendips.

[30] In Lennon's last published interview, he said: "This image of me being an orphan is garbage, because I was well protected by my auntie and uncle [Smith and Mimi] and they looked after me very well, thanks".

[31] Smith, his wife, and Lennon were portrayed by David Threlfall, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Aaron Johnson in the film Nowhere Boy, which was released in the US on 8 October 2010.