Anne Mary Celestine Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith (; 14 November 1916 – 19 August 1998) was a British

code breaker Code Breaker is a cheat device developed by Pelican Accessories, currently available for PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS. Along with competing product Action Replay, it is one of the few currently suppo ...

who became the Countess of Oxford and Asquith upon her marriage in 1947 to

Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith Julian Edward George Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (22 April 1916 – 16 January 2011) was a British colonial administrator and hereditary peer. Background and education Asquith was the only son of Katharine (née Horner) and Raymon ...

Life

She was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in 1916 to Sir

Michael Palairet Sir Michael Palairet (29 September 1882 – 5 August 1956) was a British diplomat who was minister to Romania, Sweden and Austria, and minister and ambassador to Greece. Early life Palairet was the son of Charles Harvey Palairet, by his mar ...

, a career diplomat,Neville, P. (23 September 2004). Palairet, Sir (Charles) Michael (1882–1956), diplomatist. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 8 December 2017, se
link
/ref> and his wife, Lady Mary de Vere Palairet ( Studd; 1895-1977), and brought up in the Roman Catholic faith to which her parents had converted. She was raised in Japan, China and Bucharest, where she would help her father by decoding messages that had been sent to him. In Japan, she survived an earthquake when she was six and later, her family was present during the Chinese civil war. She had an affection for Bucharest, where she took the baccalaureate and learnt French. She continued her studies in Paris before studying at St Anne's College, Oxford, although she did not take her finals. At college, she met Julian Asquith, who was already the

Earl of Oxford and Asquith Earl of Oxford and Asquith is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1925 for the Liberal politician H. H. Asquith. He was Home Secretary from 1892 to 1895, Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1905 to 1908, Leader of ...

. They were to marry years later. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, she worked at the code breaking centre of

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years followin ...

, exploiting her knowledge of linguistics and codes, before joining the

WAAF WAAF may refer to: * w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner * Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II ** Waaf, a member of the service * WAAF (AM ...

. They sent her to Palestine in 1945, where she should have been off-duty at the

King David Hotel The King David Hotel ( he, מלון המלך דוד, Malon ha-Melekh David; ar, فندق الملك داود) is a 5-star hotel in Jerusalem and a member of The Leading Hotels of the World. Opened in 1931, the hotel was built with locally qua ...

when it was bombed in 1946, but serendipity saw her exchange shifts, and she was working elsewhere when the bomb went off.

Marriage and children

She married

, at the

Brompton Oratory Brompton Oratory is a large neo-classical Roman Catholic church in the Knightsbridge area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. Its full name is the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, or as named in its Grade II* archite ...

in 1947. Her husband took diplomatic postings in Libya, Zanzibar, and

St Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindi ...

, and he was the governor in the Seychelles. At that time, one could not fly easily to these islands, but ships occasionally visited them. Lord and Lady Oxford had five children – two sons, both diplomats, and three daughters (the middle one married to another diplomat): * Lady (Mary) Annunziata Asquith (born 28 July 1948), partner of

Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield Thomas Patrick John Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield (25 April 1939 – 11 November 2005) was an English photographer from the Anson family. He inherited the Earldom of Lichfield in 1960 from his paternal grandfather. In his professional practice ...

. * Lady Katharine Rose Celestine Asquith (born 1 October 1949), in 1970 married

Adam Ridley Sir Adam Nicholas Ridley (born 14 May 1942) is a British economist, civil servant, and banker. After working at the Foreign Office and the Department of Economic Affairs, he was Director of the Conservative Research Department. With Chris Patt ...

, divorced 1976; married secondly in 1985 Nathaniel Page, son of Sir John Page. * Raymond Benedict Bartholomew Asquith, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Asquith (born 24 August 1952) * Lady Clare Perpetua Frances Asquith (born 28 March 1955) * The Hon. Sir Dominic Antony Gerard Asquith,

KCMG KCMG may refer to * KC Motorgroup, based in Hong Kong, China * Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, British honour * KCMG-LP, radio station in New Mexico, USA * KCMG, callsign 1997-2001 of Los Angeles radio station KKLQ (FM) ...

(born 7 February 1957), a former British Ambassador to Iraq, Egypt and Libya. Lord Oxford inherited the estate of

Mells Manor Mells Manor at Mells, Somerset, England, was built in the 16th century for Edward Horner, altered in the 17th century, partially demolished around 1780, and restored by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the 20th century. The house, along with the garden walls ...

from his mother

Katharine Asquith Katharine Frances Asquith (; 9 September 18859 July 1976) was an English landowner and patron of the arts. During the First World War, she served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. She was the wife of Raymond Asquith and the daughter-in-law of ...

, younger daughter of Sir John Horner, of Mells, and his wife Lady Frances (née Graham). Lady Oxford died in

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...

in 1998. Lord Oxford died, aged 94, on 16 January 2011. He was succeeded in his peerage titles, which he had held for over eighty years, by their elder son,

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

, a former British diplomat and elected hereditary member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asquith, Anne 1916 births 1998 deaths Oxford and Asquith Bletchley Park women British expatriates in France British expatriates in China British expatriates in Japan British expatriates in Romania British Roman Catholics Wives of knights Bletchley Park people Asquith family