Admiral Sir Henry Smith (1803 – 18 January 1887) was a British officer in the Royal Navy. He commanded the Aden Expedition in 1839 which took Aden as the first colonial acquisition of the reign of Queen Victoria. For this service he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Smith was then sent to serve on the China Station, where he fired the first shot of the First Opium War at the Battle of Kowloon. He played an important role at the controversial Battle of Chuenpi later in the year, and as senior naval officer on the south coast of China fought the Battle of the Barrier. He later participated in the Battles of Second Chuenpi, the Bogue, and Canton, before forming part of the Amoy garrison after the Battle of Amoy. Having left China in 1843, he went on to command ships in the Mediterranean and then in the Baltic Sea during the Crimean War. Smith never served at sea again after obtaining flag rank in 1855 but became superintendent of the Royal Hospital Haslar and the Royal Clarence Yard. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1873, retiring in the same year. Naval career Early career Henry Smith was born around 1803; he joined the Royal Navy in 1814. He was promoted to lieutenant on 19 July 1821 and was appointed on 25 April 1823 to serve as such on the ship of the line on the Lisbon Station. Smith left Genoa midway through 1825 and some time soon afterwards joined the brig-sloop HMS Pelican in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Pelican served on anti-piracy duties, taking the schooner Aphrodite on 3 January 1827; on 2 March another Turkish ship was investigated by Pelican and through her obstinacy in refusing to be searched by Pelican was deemed to also be a pirate. Smith was one of a number of men sent across to the ship to destroy it, killing two crew members and wounding four others; Smith distinguished himself in the fight and at the same time was badly injured. Smith was appointed first lieutenant of the brig-sloop HMS Fairy on 7 May. In Fairy Smith sailed for the West Indies where on 3 February 1828 he was promoted to commander and given command of the brig-sloop HMS Ferret. On 14 April Smith transferred to command another brig-sloop, HMS Arachne.