Frederick Smith, 3rd Earl of Birkenhead

Frederick William Robin Smith, 3rd Earl of Birkenhead (17 April 1936 – 16 February 1985) was British writer, historian and hereditary peer. Smith, the grandson of a British Lord Chancellor, succeeded to the Earldom upon his father's death in 1975.

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 by	The 2nd Earl of Birkenhead
Succeeded by	Peerage extinct
Personal details
Born	17 April 1936
Died	16 February 1985

Publications

Writing under his pen name of Robin Furneaux (Viscount Furneaux was his courtesy title prior to his father's death), Lord Birkenhead won the Heinemann Award in 1975 for William Wilberforce (ISBN 9781573833431), his biography of the antislavery campaigner. He also was known for his 1970 book The Amazon: The Story of a Great River, based on an expedition he made along the Amazon River in 1968.

Death

He died of a heart attack aged 48 whilst playing real tennis at the Leamington Spa Tennis and Squash Club.

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 [1]

References

1. Burke's Peerage. 1959.

External links

• Obituary at New York Times, February 18, 1985, retrieved December 01, 2012
• Robin Furneaux at WorldCat