My friend Liam Smith, who has died aged 91, was a historian who powerfully revised accounts of the French second empire (1852-70) and its emperor, Napoleon III, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. He published studies of Napoleon III in English in 1973 and a completely new version for Hachette in 1983, which he wrote in French. Liam was born in Coleraine in Northern Ireland, the son of Herbert, a solicitor, who lost the family fortune, and his wife, Jean (nee McSheffrey). Something of an outsider, Liam was not only a Northern Ireland Catholic but a gay man at a time when it was illegal to live out his sexuality. In France Liam was made officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2001.

Source: The Guardian September 19, 2017 15:45 UTC