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William Frederick (Freddy) Danvers 
Smith
1868 - 1928


William Frederick (Freddy) Danvers 
Smith
, 1881 census records him at school: Civil parish: Mortlake County/Island: Surrey Country: England Street address: Temple Grove Grammar School Education: Employment status: Occupation: Scholar Registration district: Richmond Sub registration district: Mortlake ED, institution, or vessel: 8 There is a memorial plaque to him in Hambledon church. Educ. Eton, New College, Oxford, matriculated 18 Oct. 1887, BA (3rd History) 1891; Lt. Col. Royal 1st Devon Imperial Yeomanry 1902; J.P. for co. Buckingham; D.L. for co. Devon; M.P. for Westminster (Strand division) October 1891 to january 1910; Chairman of King's College Hospital, London. He entered the W.H. Smith business in 1890. Portrait with his youngest sister, by James sant, R.A. Richard Davenport-Hines, `Smith, (William) Frederick Danvers, second Viscount Hambleden (1868-1928)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36167, accessed 24 Sept 2005] Smith, William Frederick Danvers, SECOND VISCOUNT HAMBLEDEN (1868–1928), philanthropist, was born at Filey, Yorkshire, 12 August 1868. He was the younger and only surviving son of William Henry Smith [q.v.] , the well-known statesman, by his wife, Emily, daughter of Frederick Dawes Danvers, of Bushey, Hertfordshire, clerk of the council of the duchy of Lancaster. On the death of W. H. Smith in 1891, his widow was raised to the peerage as Viscountess Hambleden, in recognition of her husband's public services. Frederick Smith, as he was usually called, succeeded to his father's business and estate, and to his mother's title on her death in 1913. Smith entered Dr. Warre's house at Eton 1882, and went up to New College, Oxford, in the autumn of 1887. A good oarsman, he was in the Eton College eight, and stroked the New College boat, but under medical orders was obliged to abandon the attempt to secure a place in the university crew. Always a man of many friends, he later became, at his Henley home, the popular host of generations of university oarsmen. He left Oxford with a third class in modern history in 1890. In the following year his father's death placed him at the head of the newspaper-distributing business of W. H. Smith and Son. At the same time he was invited to succeed his father as conservative member of parliament for the Strand division of Westminster, and was returned by a substantial majority in October 1891. He held the seat until the general election of January 1910, when he resigned. Neither in the House of Commons nor in the House of Lords, which he entered three years later, did he make much figure as a politician. The chief interests of his useful life lay elsewhere. Smith devoted constant attention to the business of W. H. Smith and Son, which his grandfather had founded and his father had developed. He was proud of the traditions of the firm, and showed himself devoted in many ways to the welfare of its employees. One of his first acts was the establishment of a benefit society for his workpeople, and his sympathetic outlook earned him the regard of all who served with him or under him. When in 1905 a crisis occurred in reference to the firm's book-stall contracts with the railway companies, and two of the most important of these contracts were given up, Smith was prepared to risk all his resources in organizing a book-shop branch, and by 1 January 1906, two hundred new shops of this kind had been opened. The new departure was in the end fully justified, and under his able management the business generally increased and prospered. The other chief interest of Lord Hambleden lay in philanthropic work, and especially in the administration of voluntary hospitals. He was closely connected with King's College Hospital, of which for many years he was chairman. He was the prime mover in the transfer of that institution from the neighbourhood of Clare market to its new site on Denmark Hill. His experience gave him a wide knowledge of the problems of hospital management, and he was chairman of the London regional committee of the British Hospitals Association as well as treasurer of the association itself. He was the founder (1922) and first chairman of the Hospital Savings Association, and also chairman of the King Edward's fund pay beds committee. Coming as a young man into great wealth, Smith regarded his riches as a trust to be administered for the benefit of others. He was a sincere churchman, and there was no good cause which he was not ready to assist with wise generosity, and sometimes, as in the case of the hospitals, with valuable personal service as well. During the European War Lord Hambleden served in Gallipoli and in Egypt (1915–1916) with the Royal first Devon Yeomanry, of which he was lieutenant-colonel. Lord Hambleden married in 1894 Lady Esther, third daughter of Arthur Gore, fifth Earl of Arran, and had three sons and two daughters. He died at Henley-on-Thames 16 June 1928, and was succeeded as third viscount by his eldest son, William Henry (born 1903). Sources The Times, 18 June 1928; private information. A. COCHRANE. Original date of publication: 1937 Partner Firm Of Newsagents (1911).

Born: Filey, Yorks., , England 12th Aug 1868 Baptised:
Died: Greenlands, Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, , England 16th Jun 1928 Buried: Hambleden, Bucks., , England 19th Jun 1928
Family:
Smith

Titles:

Ancestors
[ Patrilineage | Matrilineage | Earliest Ancestors | Force | Force2 | Set Relationship | Relationship | Options ]

1.
William Frederick (Freddy) Danvers 
Smith
(
Gore
) 1868 - 1928
2.
Rt.Hon. William Henry 
Smith
(
Danvers
) 1825 - 1891
4.
William Henry 
Smith
(
Cooper
) 1792 - 1865
5.
Mary Ann(e) 
Cooper
(
Smith
) 1792 - 1851
3.
Emily 
Danvers
(
Leach
,
Smith
) 1828 - 1913
6.
7.
Charlotte Maria 
Rawlinson
(
Danvers
) 1807 - 1891

Siblings


1.
Mary Auber 
Leach
(
Codrington
) c. 1855 - 1930
2.
Emily Anna 
Smith
(
Acland
) 1859 - 1942
3.
Helen/Ellen 
Smith
(
Seymour
) 1860 - 1944
4.
Beatrice Danvers 
Smith
(
Acland
) 1864 - 1942
5.
Henry Walton Danvers 
Smith
1865 - 1866
6.
Mabel Danvers 
Smith
(
Ryder
) 1867 - 1956

Spouses



1. London, , , England 26th Jul 1894
Esther Georgina Caroline 
Gore
(
Smith
) 1870 - 1955

Descendants
[ Options ]

a.
Esther Georgina Caroline 
Gore
(
Smith
) 1870 - 1955
1.
Edith (Dede) Mabell Emily 
Smith
1901 - 1973
2.
William (Billy) Henry 
Smith
(
Herbert
) 1903 - 1948
2a.
Patricia 
Herbert
(
Smith
) 1904 - post 1930
2.1.
William (Harry) Herbert S. 
Smith
(
hidden
,
hidden
) 1930 - 2012 ...
2.2.
Laura Caroline Beatrice 
Smith
(
hidden
) 1931 - 2000 ...
2.3.
Katherine Patricia 
Smith
(
hidden
,
hidden
) 1933 - 2002 ...
2.4.
hidden
...
2.5.
hidden
...
3.
James (Jimmy) Frederick Arthur 
Smith
1906 - 1980
4.
David John 
Smith
(
Pleydell-Bouverie
) 1907 - 1976
4a.
Helen 
Pleydell-Bouverie
(
Smith
) 1908 - post 1947
4.1.
Julian David 
Smith
(
hidden
) 1932 - post 1985 ...
4.2.
Esther Joanna (Joanna) 
Smith
1934 - 1992
4.3.
hidden
...
4.4.
Peter Henry 
Smith
(
hidden
) 1939 - post 1985 ...
4.5.
hidden
...
5.
Margaret Esther Lucie 
Smith
(
Morrison
) 1908 - 1980
5a.
Maj. John Granville 
Morrison
(
Smith
) 1906 - 1996
5.1.
James Ian 
Morrison
(
Barclay
) 1930 - 2003 ...
5.2.
Sir Charles Andrew 
Morrison
(
Long
,
hidden
) 1932 - 2005 ...
5.3.
hidden
5.4.
Sir Peter Hugh 
Morrison
1944 - 1995
Sources

  • Family Archivists: see
    Smith
Census

Timeline


12th Aug 1868Born (birth) Filey, Yorks., England
1871Son in 1871 census (census) London, England
3rd Apr 1881Lodger in 1881 census (census) London, England
1891Son in 1891 census (census) Hambleden, Bucks., England
26th Jul 1894Married
Esther Georgina Caroline 
Gore
(
Smith
) 1870 - 1955 (marriage) London, England
1901Head of household in 1901 census (census) London, England
1911Head of household in 1911 census (census) Folkestone, Kent, England
13th Aug 1913
William Frederick (Freddy) Danvers 
Smith
(
Gore
) 1868 - 1928 inherited the title
Hambleden
  [V]
16th Jun 1928Died (death) Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, England
19th Jun 1928Buried (burial) Hambleden, Bucks., England
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