Smith entertained at The Cottage throughout his legal and political careers, among his most frequent guests was Winston Churchill, his closest friend.

Smith, ennobled as Viscount Furneaux, of Charlton in the County of Northampton, and Earl of Birkenhead in 1922, died of pneumonia caused by cirrhosis of the liver in 1930, aged 58.

His grandfather had established a successful estate agency, Smith & Sons, and his father had entered local politics as a Liberal councillor.

The following year Smith bought a cottage on Main Street in Charlton, a small village in the south-west of the county of Northamptonshire, some 18 miles north of Oxford.

[a][7] The house was greatly enlarged in 1911–1912,[6] and continuously developed for the remainder of Smith's life; a swimming pool, tennis courts and stables were added "with the proceeds of every big brief that came his way".

Weekends and summer holidays were spent at Charlton, with guests including his closest friend, Winston Churchill,[b] the Duke of York, Cecil Beaton and Alfred Munnings.