Sarah Baring

Sarah Kathleen Elinor Baring (20 January 1920 – 4 February 2013) was an English socialite, who worked as a linguist at Bletchley Park for three years during the war, and married William Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor.

Early life

She was born Hon. Sarah Kathleen Elinor Norton on 20 January 1920, the daughter of the filmmaker Richard, 6th Baron Grantleyand his wife Jean (née Kinloch).

Career

During the war, she worked for Vogue and the Baltimore Sun for a short time, then as a telephonist at an Air Raid Precautions Centre, before building Hurricane fighter planes at a Hawker Siddeleyfactory close to Slough, and shared a cottage with a colleague Osla Benning. They were both god-daughters of Lord Louis Mountbatten, who suggested to Sarah that she might "find a nice girl" for his nephew, Prince Philip. Sarah introduced Benning, and she became Prince Philip's first girlfriend.

A few months latter, they were both tested on their German language skills, and were posted to Hut 4 at Bletchley Park.

Later life

In her later years, Baring wrote about her time in pre-war London society and at Bletchley Park, The Road To Station X.

Personal life

On VE-Day, she attended a cocktail party given by her aunt, Lady Brownlow, and was introduced to William Waldorf Astor, eldest son of the 2nd Viscount Astor and his wife, Nancy Astor, the MP.[1] They were engaged after five days, and married a month later, on 14 June 1945.

Their son, William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor (Samantha Cameron's stepfather) was born in 1951. The couple amicably divorced in 1953, after which she married Lt-Col Thomas Michael Baring, a former 10th Royal Hussars officer, polo player and fine art consultant. 

The Barings divorced in 1965.