Remarkable legacy of midwife who delivered more than a thousand babies

A midwife who delivered more than a thousand babies but lost both her own children has left a remarkable legacy after her death.

Lilian Smith, then Lilian Edwards, first came to the Swansea Valley as a young wartime evacuee and then made her life there after meeting her future husband at a dance.

Despite her own personal tragedies – her first son was stillborn and her second died in a road accident aged just 18 – she threw herself into the job that she loved, with her career spanning more than 40 years.

(Main photo above: Christine Koukos addresses the volunteer's event with, inset, a photo of Lilian and Hendren Smith)

Lilian died aged 90 in December 2021. Having outlived husband Hendren and son Jonathan, she left a series of donations to worthy causes in her will – including Swansea Bay’s volunteering service.

She stipulated the donation of almost £20,000 should be used to develop the service – but also to provide an occasional treat for the volunteers.

And so it was that around more than 100 of them, representing the 300 or so people who volunteer across the health board, were treated to a special celebratory event in Swansea’s Village Hotel.

Lilian’s story was presented by Christine Koukos, who not only worked with her for many years but developed a close family friendship.

Christine, a retired health visitor who now volunteers in Morrison Hospital, said: “Lilian was born in London in 1931 and during the war she was put on a train to Swansea with a label with her name on and a gas mask.

“She went to a home in Trebanos. They didn’t have any children, so she was quite spoilt and after a few months she settled down and didn’t actually go back home to London, to her own family, for five years.

“By that time she was 13. She loved Wales and she used to come in her school holidays and visit the family.”

(Christine Koukos, centre, with Lilian and Hendren Smith)

But it wasn’t just Wales she fell in love with. Aged 16, she went to a dance at the Mond in Clydach, where she met Hendren.

They eventually married and Lilian relocated to Wales to do her midwifery training, after her general training, in Morriston and Mount Pleasant hospitals. She then worked as a community midwife in Clydach.

“They had a little boy, who was stillborn. Two years later she had a son, Jonathan, who was the light of their lives but unfortunately when he was 18 he was tragically killed in a road traffic accident,” said Christine.

“She faced such adversity in her life as a young child and then as a mother. I don’t know many of us could have thrown ourselves back into midwifery having lost two children in such circumstances, but she did.

“You would never have known all that sadness that she’d experienced in her own life. She absolutely threw herself into a job that she loved.”

Lilian and Christine met in 1990, when the latter was a newly qualified health visitor. They saw each other almost every day through work and developed a firm friendship.

“My son was only six at the time,” Christine recalled. “Lilian’s husband had retired. He became one of my childminders, taught my son how to fish.

“Years down the line my son married and had a child, and my granddaughter was also involved with the family.”

Lilian, she said, delivered more than a thousand babies during her 43-year career before her retirement in 1995.

After that she spent several years as a volunteer and governor in Craigfelen Community Primary school.

There the Lilian Smith Inspiration Room, a quiet place where children with different needs and abilities can have a fun learning environment, has been created in her honour.

In addition, Lilian volunteered in the Heritage Centre in Clydach’s Coed Gwilym Park.

In 2011, when Sustrans decided to install a portrait bench in the park, she was one of three local heroes chosen by the community to be immortalised. A beautiful statue of Lilian stands there in her honour.

And now her generosity is helping to support the volunteers who play a range of vital roles in Swansea Bay’s hospitals and other centres.

“When I retired and became a volunteer, we used to talk about the role,” Christine said. “She always thought the volunteers were undertaking important unpaid roles.

“That made her think. She was in a position when she became ill to decide what to do with her money. The volunteer service was just one of the many things she wanted to donate to.

“The proviso was that it was for the development of the service but in particular for a little treat for the volunteers every now and then, which they truly deserve.

“So the celebration event was on Lilian.”

Swansea Bay University Health Board Chief Executive Abi Harris said: “I am extremely grateful to Lilian for her very generous donation to our volunteering service.

“She was clearly someone who was dedicated to her work as a midwife for so many years despite enduring terrible personal tragedy.

“Her story is a truly inspirational one, and I thank Christine for sharing it with us.”