Edward Heslop Smith (17 May 1888-1963) was a Labour Party politician in the Poplar area. Born in Bromley St Leonard, he was the son of Edward and Sarah Ann Smith. His father was a boiler maker. In 1892 he began school at Bow High Street School. In 1903 he was taken on by the Great Western Railway as a van guard, stationed at Smithfield Station. During the First World War he served in the Middlesex Regiment, joining in 1915 and serving in France. He was promoted from private to corporal to sergeant reaching the rank of second lieutenant. He was discharged from the army in 1922.