Anne Briar Riddall

Anne Briar Smith (née Riddall, 13 August 1940 – 22 May 2016) was a New Zealand professor at the University of Otago, and was a pioneering children's rights researcher.

Early life and education Smith was born on 13 August 1940 in Porthcawl, Wales, to Dora and Geoff Riddall. Her father worked for the Iraq Petroleum Company, and when that necessitated the family move to Syria, Smith boarded at the Welsh Girls' School in England, aged nine. Her work focused in ways to improve children's lives, especially in times of stress such as when parents divorce. She worked to ban physical punishment of children.

Her book Understanding Children's Development was first published in 1982, became a standard text, and is in its fifth edition (now titled Understanding children and childhood).

Selected works