REARDON SMITH, Sir William Antony 4th Bt 1937-2022
Richard R
He was s of Sir William Reardon REARDON SMITH 3rd Bt 1911-95 and his 1st w Nesta Florence 1910-59 d of Frederick Joseph PHILLIPS 1875-1944 of Barry, Glam. by his 1905 m reg Q4 Devon to Florence Blanche TURNER 1880-1961. He m 1962 Susan Wight b 1941 reg Q3 Glam. d of Henry Wight GIBSON 1904-81 of Cardiff, Glam. by his 1938 m reg Q4 E. Glam. to Rita M GERMAN 1911-2000, and had 3 sons and 1 dau. His eldest son succeeds him:
[Sir] WILLIAM NICOLAS HENRY REARDON SMITH [5th Baronet] has yet to establish claim, b 10 June 1963 m 2001 Julia Elizabeth McKenzie d of D. Martin SLADE of Tonbridge, Kent.
BROTHERS LIVING
GILES ANTHONY JAMES, b 12 Feb 1968 m 1998 Alice Jane d of Charles ROWE of Little Thurlow, Suffolk, and has a son Jack Charles Gibson, b 2001 [exact date unknown] and a dau Sophie Megan Susan, b 1998.
Harry Alexander b 1979 [exact date unknown] m 2009 Elizabeth Jacquetta adopted d of William Murray LUCAS & Rosemary Henrietta Dorothy VILLIERS b 1950 (4xgt gd of 1st Earl of CLARENDON 1709-86).
SISTER LIVING
Henrietta Nesta, b 1965 & m 2008,Stephen M. ANDREWS and has a dau.
colinp
By the time Reardon Smith succeeded as chairman of the group in the 1980s the fortunes of British merchant ships were waning
Sir Antony Reardon Smith, 4th Bt, who has died aged 84, was the scion of a famous Welsh shipping company and a philanthropist.
William Antony John Reardon Smith, the fourth baronet of Appledore, Devon, was born on June 20 1937. The baronetcy was created in 1920 for William Reardon Smith (1856-1935) – who had started his career at sea as a ship’s cook in the trading smack Unity and risen to master and then shipowner – in recognition of his contribution to the war effort 1914-18....
....In 1985 Antony Reardon Smith succeeded as chairman of the group. But the 1980s was once more a period of bust and the tonnage of British flag merchant ships was falling rapidly. The number of ships in the direct ownership of the Reardon Smith Line fell to just four, and this time the business collapsed.
Subsequently Reardon Smith held a number of appointments in the City, and in 2002 he began another career, as Clerk to the Worshipful Company of Fuellers, one of the more recent livery companies. He was saddened never to have returned to mainstream shipping, but the Fuellers provided him with the challenge of running a livery company, combined with the social life which he relished.
As clerk for 14 years, he helped to implement the Fuellers’ generous charitable policy, giving two-thirds of its income to education and research, its military affiliates, the RNLI, and causes linked to the energy industry. He also continued the tradition started by his great grandfather, who had benefited many institutions in Wales over the years, including the Reardon Smith Nautical College.
His Christian faith found expression through the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, of which he became a knight in 1997, a knight commander in 2002, and bailiff (2002-08).
Antony Reardon Smith married, in 1962, Sue Wight, who survives him with their three sons and a daughter; his son Nicolas “Nic” Reardon Smith, born in 1963, succeeds in the baronetcy.
Sir Antony Reardon Smith, Bt, born June 20 1937, died June 8 2022