Lady Kennet

Lady Kennet, known to her friends as Liz, was born in London on April 14, 1923 and was the only daughter of Captain Bryan Fullerton Adams and his first wife Audrey Marshall.

Her early life was spent travelling with her family for her father’s naval appointments, until he retired from the Navy and he was appointed naval expert to the Disarmament Section of the League of Nations in Geneva.

After attending a French school, she moved to the International School in Geneva and later studied at St George’s, an English school in Clarens.

She returned to England to attend Downe House where she won an Exhibition to Somerville College, Oxford, to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and was awarded a two-year War Degree.

After three years in the Women’s Royal Naval Service, she worked with her future brother-in-law, ornithologist Sir Peter Scott at the Severn Wildlife Trust at Slimbridge.

She met her husband, the Hon Wayland Hilton Young, 2nd Baron Kennet, at a May ball and the couple married in 1948.

When his father, Edward Hilton Young, died in 1960 he inherited the title of Baron Kennet.

After Lady Kennet married she began writing, starting with an article for Vogue on the Island of Giglio in 1950.

She continued to write on a wide range of mostly political issues, especially on disarmament, arms control and maritime affairs.

Her book of poems, Time is as Time Does, was published in 1958 and was poet Geoffrey Grigson’s Poetry Book of the Year.

She had six children: William, Easter Russell, sculptor Emily Young, Mopsa English, and writers Louisa and Zoe Young.

She had 12 grandchildren, one great grandchild and a half sister, Dinah Mathias, who lives in the USA.

She spent her last few years writing Preemptive Mourning, which will now be published.

She continued to draw the view from the window of her London home, compose haikus and blog as Mrs Elizabeth Young until close to her death on November 30.

A collection of her poems and drawings will now be produced by her relatives.

She was an active member of many east Wiltshire organisations including Action for the River Kennet, the Avebury Society and the Stonehenge Alliance, which aims to protect the World Heritage Site from road schemes.

She was also involved with the Advisory Board for Redundant Churches, the Advisory Committee for the Protection of the Sea, the Royal United Services Institution, the Royal Institute for International Affairs, Chatham House, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, as well as contributing to various ad hoc political and conservationist groups. She was an honorary member of the Federation of American Scientists.

Her funeral will be held at 2pm today at St Michael and All Angels in West Overton. Donations can be made to the Stonehenge Alliance.