The Right Honourable
The Earl of Birkenhead
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
10 June 1975 – 16 February 1985
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded byThe 2nd Earl of Birkenhead
Succeeded byPeerage extinct
Personal details
Born
Frederick William Robin Smith

(1936-04-17)17 April 1936
Died16 February 1985(1985-02-16) (aged 48)
Writing career
Pen nameRobin Furneaux
Notable worksThe Amazon: The Story of a Great River (1971)
William Wilberforce (1974)
Notable awardsHeinemann Award (1975)

Frederick William Robin Smith, 3rd Earl of Birkenhead (17 April 1936 – 16 February 1985) was a British writer, historian and hereditary peer. He wrote under the pseudonym Robin Furneaux.

Biography

Viscount Furneaux was his courtesy title prior to the 1975 death of his father, Frederick Smith, 2nd Earl of Birkenhead, at which time he succeeded to the earldom.[1] His grandfather, F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead, had been a British Lord Chancellor and a close personal friend of Winston Churchill.

Writing under his pen name of Robin Furneaux, Lord Birkenhead won the Heinemann Award in 1975 for William Wilberforce (ISBN 9781573833431), his biography of the antislavery campaigner.[2] He also was known for his 1970 book The Amazon: The Story of a Great River (ASIN B0007JSBL4),[3] based on an expedition he made along the Amazon River in 1968.[2]

Lord Birkenhead was a contract bridge player, participating in an annual competition between members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons.[4] He was part of a British team that visited Washington, D.C., in 1984 and defeated an American team including Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.[5]

He died of a heart attack aged 48 whilst playing real tennis at the Leamington Spa Tennis and Squash Club.[2] The title became extinct upon his death.

Arms

Coat of arms of Frederick Smith, 3rd Earl of Birkenhead
Crest
A cubit arm couped fessways vested Gules cuffed Argent the hand Proper grasping a sword erect also Argent pommel and hilt Or.
Escutcheon
Ermine on a pale Gules between four cross crosslets of the second a like cross Or.
Supporters
Dexter a griffin Or wings per fess Or and Sable, sinister a lion Azure charged on the shoulder with a crozier Or.
Motto
Faber Meæ Fortunæ [6]

References

  1. ↑ "Earl Of Birkenhead, At Age 67, British Political Biographer". The Evening Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. AP. 11 June 1975. p. 17. Retrieved 8 December 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 "Third Earl of Birkenhead Dies; Author and Historian Was 48". The New York Times. AP. 18 February 1985. Retrieved 1 December 2012 – via nytimes.com.
  3. ↑ Thomas, Peter (21 March 1970). "All About The Amazon River". The Evening News. Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. p. 7. Retrieved 8 December 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Lords come up trumps". The Guardian. London. 6 October 1979. p. 3. Retrieved 8 December 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ Truscott, Alan (2 August 1984). "British Parliamentary Team Easily Beats U.S. Opponent". The Bellingham Herald. Bellingham, Washington. p. 4B. Retrieved 8 December 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Burke's Peerage. 1959.
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