About us

1856

Thomas James Smith opened a chemist shop in Hull, UK and develops a new method for refining cod liver oil.

1896

Horatio Smith entered a partnership with his uncle forming TJ Smith & Nephew.

1906

Anticipating the decline of his cod liver oil business, H N Smith buys a bandage cutting and rolling machine, turning the focus of the business to the sale of wound dressings and bandages. 

H N Smith travels to North America and secures contracts to supply Canadian hospitals with bandages. 

1907

Smith & Nephew becomes a limited company.

1914

Days after the declaration of World War 1 in 1914, Horatio Nelson Smith (the nephew of the company founder T. J Smith) met with an envoy of the French President in London. The company was awarded a contract to supply £350,000 of surgical and field dressings, to be delivered in five months.

During WW1, staff grew from 50 to 1,200.

1921

The first independent overseas branch of Smith & Nephew opens in Canada.

1928

We produced our experimental bandage Elastoplast^TM

1937

We were listed on the London Stock Exchange.

We developed a special low-temperature plaster, used by the Everest climbers on the 1953 expedition. It enabled them to send back camera films, sealed and airtight!

Post war expansion

1950s

New companies are formed in Australia (1950) and New Zealand (1953).

1951

Smith & Nephew acquires Herts Pharmaceuticals, introducing pharmaceutical and skincare products to the Group, as well as laboratory and technical resources, enabling the company to forge ahead with its programmes of product research and development.

1986

We made two key acquisitions:

• Richards Medical in Memphis, USA, specialists in orthopaedic products.
• DYONICS, an arthroscopy specialist based in Andover, USA.

1995

We acquired Acufex Microsurgical Inc., making us a market leader in arthroscopic surgical devices. 

We were listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

2001

We became a constituent member of the UK FTSE 100 Index.

We introduced OXINIUM^◊, a new material that improves performance and increases the service life of total joint replacement systems.

2011

PICO^◊ the first pocket-sized, single-use system, revolutionizes the negative pressure wound therapy market.

2013

JOURNEY II^◊ BCS sets a new standard in knee implant performance, designed to empower patients.

2014

Acquired Arthrocare Corp. to expand our sports medicine portfolio.

2015

Acquired Blue Belt Technologies, securing a leading position in orthopaedic robotics-assisted surgery.

2019

Expanding in technologies of the future, we acquired: Osiris Therapeutics, Ceterix Orthopaedics, Leaf Patient Monitoring System and Brainlab Orthopaedic Joint Reconstruction Business.

2020

Launched Real Intelligence and CORI^◊ Surgical System, our next-generation handheld robotics platform.

2021

Acquired the orthopaedic extremity business from Integra, strengthening our position in a high-growth segment.

Today

We have over 18,000 employees worldwide and we operate in over 100 countries.