Eleanor Smith(1902-1945)
- Writer
Eldest child of Frederick Edwin Smith, Conservative politician and Lord
Chancellor, who was created Earl of Birkenhead in 1922, for his
political services. Eleanor Smith worked for some years as a society
reporter and cinema reviewer, before travelling more widely as a
publicist for circus companies. She believed that her paternal
great-grandmother was a gypsy, and she spent much of her short life
researching Romany culture - albeit from a very romanticised point of
view. She wrote a number of popular novels and short stories, often
using historical or Spanish gypsy themes. Many were adapted for the
screen by Gainsborough Films.
