Edward Smithies was born in Daventry, Northamptonshire in 1941. He was educated at Leeds and London Universities, and held a doctorate in urban history. He worked as a Senior Lecturer in history at the Middlesex Polytechnic until his death in 1991. Works by Edward Smithies include: War at Sea War in the Air Crime in Wartime: A Social History of Crime in World War II The Black Economy in England Since 1914
