Mary Smith (psychologist)

She was probably born at Liverpool in England, the daughter of storeman David Smith and Wilhelmina Fletcher, née McLean.

[1] The family moved to South Australia in 1911, settling in the suburbs of Birkenhead and Largs Bay North.

In 1938 she was given a free passage to England to begin doctoral research in psychology at the Victoria University of Manchester on "the mental readjustment of the problem child".

[2][3] She returned to the Victoria University of Manchester after winning the Catherine Helen Spence scholarship in 1945, studying "modern trends in child psychology and work with adolescents".

She was also active in the community as president of the Young Women's Christian Association of Adelaide from 1950 to 1951, and continued to write her newspaper column on the mental health and wellbeing of children until 1969.