Cynthia Jebb

Cynthia Jebb, Baroness Gladwyn (née Noble; 20 November 1898 – 21 September 1990) was an English political hostess and diarist. She was noted as the wife of the UK's representative on the Security Council of the United Nations and as a hostess in Paris where her husband was the British ambassador.

Life She was the last of four children born to Celia Brunel James and Sir Saxton William Armstrong Noble, third baronet of Ardmore and Ardardan. He was a entrepreneurial civil engineer and they lived at Jesmond Dene, Newcastle upon Tyne where she born on 20 November 1898 and baptised quickly (as she was expected to die).

One of her grandfathers was A.C. James a housemaster at Eton College who was married to Florence Brunel. Her other grandfather chaired the arms and shipping company Armstrong Whitworth. Her middle name was Brunel and she was the great granddaughter of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Her husband became Baron Gladwyn in 1960 when he retired a diplomat and became a Liberal Front Bench peer in the House of Lords. They spent their time at their flat in London and at Bramfield Hall in Suffolk where she entertained including a generous evening during the Aldeburgh Festival.