The Cottage

The Cottage, Charlton, Northamptonshire, England, is a house of 18th century origins. In 1907 it was bought by F. E. Smith, 1st Earl of Birkenhead as his country home. Smith subsequently purchased another cottage on Main Street in Charlton and engaged Alan James to extend the house in 1911–12. James constructed a large central block to join the two cottages, and remodelled the grounds. 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. After cremation at Golders Green Crematorium, his ashes were brought to Charlton and interred in a tomb designed by Edwin Lutyens in the cemetery on Green Lane, just outside of the village. The Cottage remains a private residence and is a Grade II listed building.