George Harold Smith, known as Harold, was born in Melton in 1887. In 1901, he was living with his parents and working as an iron moulder, possibly for Page and Girling. By 1911 he had moved to Leiston, Suffolk, where he worked for Garretts in their foundry.

On 23rd November 1914, Harold enlisted in the 2nd Suffolk Regiment. He was posted to France on 3rd August 1915 with fifty other men, joining the 2nd Battalion at Spoilbank near Zillebeke in Belgium. Soon after he arrived, Harold was transferred to the Labour Corps with whom he spent the rest of the war. He was discharged from the army on 30th March 1919. For his war service, Harold received the 1914-15 Star and the British War and Victory Medals.

After demobilisation, Harold married Lily Wardley in Leiston. In 1939, Harold and Lily were the publicans at the Railway Inn on Leiston Road, Aldeburgh.