Vivian Smith, 1st Baron Bicester

Vivian Hugh Smith, 1st Baron Bicester (9 December 1867 – 17 February 1956) was a British merchant banker.

Smith was the son of Hugh Colin Smith and Constance Maria Josepha (née Adeane), and grandson of John Abel Smith. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.^[1] He was chairman of Yule Catto & Company Ltd, Governor of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation from 1914 to 1956, and a Director of Morgan Grenfell & Co. Between 1934 and 1956 he also held the honorary position of Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire. On 29 June 1938 Smith was raised to the peerage as Baron Bicester, of Tusmore in the County of Oxford.

Lord Bicester married Lady Sybil Mary McDonnell, daughter of William Randal McDonnell, 6th Earl of Antrim, in 1897. They had seven children:

Randal Hugh Vivian Smith, 2nd Baron Bicester (1898-1968).
Victoria Alexandrina Vivian Smith (1899-1969), unmarried.
Mary Constance Vivian Smith (1901-1981), married Francis James Rennell Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell.
Lt.-Col. Hon. Stephen Edward Vivian Smith ( 1903-1952), father of Angus Edward Vivian Smith, 3rd Baron Bicester.
Hon. Joyce Sybil Vivian Smith (1905), married Gerald Lloyd-Verney.
Hon. Honor Mildred Vivian Smith (1908-1995), surgeon.
Major Hon. Hugh Adeane Vivian Smith (1910-1978).

Lord Bicester died in February 1956, aged 87, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son Randall. Lady Bicester died in 1959.

References

Honorary titles
Preceded by The Duke of Marlborough	Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire 1934–1956	Succeeded by The Earl of Macclesfield
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Bicester 1938–1956	Succeeded by Randal Hugh Vivian Smith