Mitford family

The Mitford family

The Mitford family is a minor aristocratic English family that traces its origins in Northumberland back to the time of the Norman conquest. In the Middle Ages they had been Border Reivers based in Redesdale. The main family line had seats at Mitford Castle, Mitford Old Manor House and from 1828 the then-newly-built Mitford Hall. Several heads of the family served as High Sheriff of Northumberland.

A junior line, with seats at Newton Park, Northumberland and Exbury House, Hampshire descends via the historian William Mitford to his great-great-great-granddaughters, the "Mitford sisters". The Mitford family was twice elevated to the British peerage, in 1802 and 1902, under the title Baron Redesdale.^[1]

In the 20th century, the "Mitford sisters"—six daughters of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale—became celebrated, and at times scandalous, figures caricatured, according to The Times journalist Ben Macintyre, as "Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the Novelist; Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur".^[2]

The Mitford siblings

Nancy Mitford (28 November 1904 - 30 June 1973)
Pamela Mitford (25 November 1907 – 12 April 1994)
Thomas Mitford (2 January 1909 – 30 March 1945)
Diana Mitford (17 June 1910 – 11 August 2003)
Unity Mitford (8 August 1914 – 28 May 1948)
Jessica Mitford (11 September 1917 – 22 July 1996)
Deborah Mitford (born 31 March 1920)

Mitford sisters

Jessica, Nancy, Diana, Unity and Pamela Mitford in 1935

In the 20th century the family achieved contemporary notoriety for their controversial and stylish lives as young people, and later for their very public political divisions between communism and fascism. The six daughters of the family were known collectively as the Mitford sisters. Nancy and Jessica became well-known writers and Deborah managed one of the most successful stately homes in England. Jessica and Deborah married nephews-by-marriage of prime ministers Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan, respectively. Deborah and Diana married wealthy aristocrats. Unity and Diana were well known during the 1930s for being close to Adolf Hitler. In the early 1980s, Deborah also became politically active when she and her husband, the Duke of Devonshire, became leading lights in the newly formed political party, the Social Democratic Party.

The sisters were the children of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, known to his children as "Farve" and various other nicknames. Their mother was Sydney Freeman-Mitford, Baroness Redesdale, known as "Muv", the daughter of Thomas Bowles, whom David married in 1904. The family homes changed from Batsford House to Asthall Manor beside the River Windrush in Oxfordshire, and then Swinbrook Cottage nearby, with a house at Rutland Gate in London.

The Mitford sisters and their brother grew up in an aristocratic country house with emotionally distant parents, as well as a large household with numerous servants; this family situation was not unusual for its time. A disregard for formal education was present at least where the girls of the family were concerned; they were expected to marry young and well. The parents were described as "nature's fascists"; at least two of their daughters followed in their footsteps; one turned her back on her inherited privileges and ran away to become a communist, a result of the excitement of European politics in the 1930s. Jessica's memoir Hons and Rebels describes their upbringing, and Nancy obviously drew upon her family members for characters in her novels. The children had a private language called "Boudledidge" (pronounced 'bowdledidge'), and each had a different nickname for the others.

On the outbreak of the Second World War, their political views came into sharper relief. "Farve" remained a conservative but "Muv" usually supported her fascist daughters, and they separated in the late 1940s. Nancy, a moderate socialist, worked in London during the Blitz. Pamela remained seemingly non-political, although reportedly actually a rabid antisemite.^[3] Tom, a fascist, refused to fight Germany but volunteered to fight against Imperial Japan. He was killed in action a short time after arriving in Asia. Diana (married to Oswald Mosley), a fascist, was imprisoned in London for three years. Unity, distraught over the war declaration against Hitler, tried to commit suicide and suffered brain damage eventually leading to her early death. Jessica, a communist supporter, had moved to the US, but her husband Esmond Romilly volunteered for the RCAF and died when his bomber developed mechanical problems over the North Sea.^[4] In numerous letters, Jessica has stated that Romilly served in the RCAF, and that her daughter received a pension from the Canadian government from the date of his death until she turned 18.^[4] The political rivalry between Jessica and Diana lasted until their deaths, with the other sisters in frequent contact.

The sisters are noted as prolific letter-writers. A substantial body of correspondence still exists, principally letters between the sisters.^[2] They were, it has been alleged, 'the most ardent burnishers of their own public image'.^[5]

Thumbnail biographies

1. The Hon. Nancy Mitford (November 28, 1904 – June 30, 1973). Married Peter Rodd and had a longstanding relationship with French politician and statesman Gaston Palewski. Lived in France much of her adult life. Writer of many novels, including her most popular (and somewhat autobiographical), The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. Also a noted biographer of historical figures, including the Sun King.
2. The Hon. Pamela Mitford (November 25, 1907 – April 12, 1994). Married and divorced the millionaire scientist Derek Jackson. John Betjeman, who for a time was in love with her, referred to her as the "Rural Mitford". After her divorce from Jackson, she spent the remainder of her life as the companion of Giuditta Tommasi (died 1993), an Italian horsewoman.^[6]
3. The Hon. Thomas Mitford (January 2, 1909 – March 30, 1945). Educated at Eton. Lover of James Lees-Milne at Eton.^[7] Regular lover of Tilly Losch during her marriage to Edward James. Died as a soldier in Burma. According to his sister Jessica's letters, he unofficially supported British Fascism and was stationed in Burma after refusing to fight in Europe.^[4]
4. The Hon. Diana Mitford (June 17, 1910 – August 11, 2003). Married aristocrat and writer Bryan Walter Guinness in the society wedding of the year (1929). Left him in the society scandal of the year (1933) for British Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley. Was interned in Holloway Prison during the Second World War. Never renounced her belief in Fascism.
5. The Hon. Unity Valkyrie Mitford (August 8, 1914 – May 28, 1948). Famous for her adulation of and friendship with Adolf Hitler. Shot herself in the head days after Britain declared war on Germany,^[4] but failed to kill herself and eventually died of pneumococcal meningitis at West Highland Cottage Hospital, Oban after being transferred there from Inch Kenneth.
6. The Hon. Jessica Mitford, commonly known as Decca (September 11, 1917 – July 22, 1996). Eloped with Esmond Romilly to the Spanish Civil War. Spent most of her adult life in the United States. Two years after Esmond was killed during military service she married Robert Treuhaft, whom she met as part of her work as a civil rights activist. Member of the American Communist Party (until 1958). Wrote several volumes of memoirs and several muckrakers, including the bestselling The American Way of Death (1963) about the funeral industry. She went on to become the maternal grandmother of James Forman Jr and Chaka Forman, the two sons of the African-American civil rights leader James Forman by her daughter Constancia Romilly.
7. The Hon. Deborah Mitford (born March 31, 1920). She married Andrew Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire and with him turned his ancestral home, Chatsworth House, into one of Britain's most successful stately homes. She has written a dozen books.

The Mitfords in Popular Culture

The daughters were the subject of a song, "The Mitford Sisters", by Luke Haines and a musical, The Mitford Girls, by Caryl Brahms and Ned Sherrin.

Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate, which was based on the family, was serialised by Thames Television in 1980, and by the BBC in 2001.

A fictional family based on the Mitford sisters features prominently in author Jo Walton's novel Ha'penny; Viola Lark, one of the point-of-view characters, is one of the sisters, another is married to Himmler, and a third is a Communist spy.

The fictional "Combe sisters" featured in the BBC 2 series Bellamy's People bear a striking resemblance to the Mitford sisters. Bellamy meets two of the surviving Combe sisters, said to have been notorious in the 1930s and 40s for their extreme political views, now living together in a strained relationship in the dramatically different political realities of 2010. One an avid Fascist and the other a committed Communist, the sisters have hit upon the solution of dividing their stately home down the middle—each converting her side into an homage to her ideology. The sisters were denied a formal education as children, and led an isolated childhood, forming an odd relationship and inventing their own language known as "Languish".

References

1. ^ Burke's Peerage, 107th edn. (London 2003).
2. ^ ^{a b} Those utterly maddening Mitford girls, Ben Macintyre, The Times, London, 12 October, 2007.Accessed: 28-07-2009.
3. ^ Reynolds, Paul (14 November 2003). "Nancy Mitford spied on sisters". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3263733.stm. Retrieved 25 November 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Mitford, Jessica (2006). Sussman, Peter Y.. ed. Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 
5. ^ The myth of the Mitfords.., D.J. Taylor, The Guardian, London, 14 August 2003.Accessed: 28-07-2009.
6. ^ Charlotte Mosley, editor. The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters, London: Fourth Estate, 2007, p264. According to her sister Jessica, Pamela Mitford had become "a you-know-what-bian" [lesbian].
7. ^ The National Trust bed-hopper who persuaded aristocrats he slept with—women AND men—to leave their homes to the nation, Matthew Wilson, The Daily Mail, 11 September 2009

Bibliography

• The House of Mitford by Jonathan Guinness (Hutchinson, London 1984)
• The Mitford Girls by Mary S. Lovell (Little, Brown and Company 2001)
• The Mitfords, Letters Between Six Sisters edited by Charlotte Mosley (Fourth Estate 2007)

External links

• The Official Nancy Mitford Website
• Genealogical pictures of the Mitford family

See also

• The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters
• List of descendants of James II of England
• History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland (1835) Vol II pp 282–286 (ISBN 9781847271686)
• Audio interview with Christopher Hitchens of Jessica Mitford (1988)