... was born Sarah Jill Ward, the second child and only daughter of Edward Ward, 7th Viscount Bangor. Edward Ward had a distinguished career as a foreign correspondent, first with Reuters and later with the BBC.
Bernard Ward, the 1st Viscount Bangor (1719–81) represented Down in the Irish House of Commons from 1745 to 1770. His father had represented the constituency before him.
Mary Ward – the wife of the 5th Viscount, and Lalla Ward's great–grandmother – was a scientist and writer. In 1869, aged 42, she became the first person known to have been killed by a motor vehicle, when she fell under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her cousins.
© Haydn Thompson 2021