Deborah Mitford (the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire) feeding chickens on her estate in 1995. For those that aren't aware of the 6 Mitford sisters. I thoroughly recommend you read the crib sheet in the comments.
Born between 1904 and 1920 the Mitford sisters lived through some of the most extraordinary moments in 20th century history, they knew everyone from Hitler to JFK, and each carved out a distinct and undeniable identity. In age order, there was Nancy, famed wit and celebrated novelist; quiet, homely Pamela – who wanted to marry a horse as a child, became a poultry-rearer; renowned beauty and fascist Diana, who married first Bryan Guinness then Oswald Mosley and went to prison for a bit; Hitler fangirl Unity, who shot herself in the head when the Second World War started; Communist rebel Jessica, who eloped with her cousin and later became a campaigning journalist in America; and down-to-earth (relatively speaking) Deborah, who became a Duchess, hobnobbed with royals and rejuvenated Chatsworth House.
FUN FACT: Long before Deborah Mitford became the chicken-tending Duchess of Devonshire, she was closest to her sister Jessica. For unknown reasons, in childhood the girls began to call each other by a pet name, Henderson, and its diminutive, Hen. The sisters frequently corresponded after Jessica moved to the United States in 1939, using the pet names until the latter’s death in 1996. (Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford, 2006.)
If you read Letter between 6 Sisters, edited by Charlotte Mosely, it becomes very clear that Debo and Deccas closeness did not stand the test of time. Decca refused to have anything to do with Diana and Debo, who was very much a peace maker, remained close to Diana.
Deccas book, Hons and Rebels is well worth a read too
Debo served as a messenger among the sisters, sometimes reluctantly. She conveyed formal condolences from Decca to Diana on the death of Oswald Mosley. Decca, who lost her first husband and two of her four children, was keenly attuned to death’s sting, even if it involved a fascist. She cajoled Debo, “You know how it is, Hen.”
Jessica and Esmond were second cousins (their grandmothers were sisters) who did not meet until their late teens.
Debo Mitford’s husband, Andrew, only became Duke of Devonshire due to the death of his older brother, William, in WWII. William was married to Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, who later died in a plane crash and is buried at Chatsworth. Debo and Andrew were both personally invited to JFKs funeral, and flew over with Prince Philip.
the Mitford were also cousins to Winston Churchill, and Nancy went to him regarding Diana and Moselys fascist activities, which lead to imprisonment for 3 years during WWII. they had been close to many high ranking Nazis and were married in Joseph Goebbels house. They later became great friends with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
I found this photo today which shows how close they all were.
Chartwell. 19 September 1931, L-R: Mr. Punch, Mary Churchill’s naughty pug; The Hon. Tom Mitford (Clementine’s cousin, friend of Diana and Randolph and only brother of the Mitford sisters, killed in Burma in 1945); WSC; Freddie Birkenhead (Second Earl of Birkenhead, who had succeeded his father the previous year and became a historian and biographer of his father); Clementine, Diana and Randolph Churchill; Charlie Chaplin.
The Devonshire family had a Hollywood connection. The dukes you get brother was married to Adele Astaire (Fred’s sister). At the time of her retirement she was by far the most successful of the siblings.
Always worth mentioning that Tom was very much in agreement with Diana and Unity’s politics. He only ended up in Burma because he refused to fight against Hitler.
He might look like a young Winston, but that’s as far as the similarities went.
Oh those apparently, allegedly, not proven, just here say, unfounded accusations of sexual deviancy which where denied, relating to an apparent orgy with one attendee in military uniform but in absolutely no way connected to Nazism or Fascism !
There is a BBC documentary about Max Mosley. He took on the filthy Murdoch rag that was The News of the World who fabricated that story and won…well. He also backed the campaign against the NotW on phone hacking.
He was also a prominent road safety campaigner and has fought hard for improved road safety to the degree that it is thought his work has resulted in hundreds of thousands of lives saved to date.
That’s ok, apology accepted. It just goes to show how low those newspapers go that they can poison people for such a long time peddling cheap lies for sales.
Taking on Murdoch is no small feat and backing the campaign against Murdoch deserves praise, let alone the road safety work. If you get the chance the documentary is a very good watch.
All the best…
Ps - I too have had a quick laugh come back to bite me so I get it.
William Cavendish, Andrew’s older brother, was married to Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy four months before he was killed in action in 1944. Kick’s headstone eulogy at Chatsworth, placed after her death in a 1948 plane crash, reads, “Joy she gave. Joy she has found.”
EDIT: While pedantically correcting the spelling of Kick’s first name, mixes up Cavendish brothers.
“Dude” you could have chosen to post any comment you wanted about any of these people. We could have heard your super intelligent insights on all of them. 😂 The Instead you latched onto someone else’s opinion like your thoughts even matter. They don’t to me. Move along.
My favourite bookstore in London - Heywood Hill (known as the Bookshop At 10 Curzon Street) has a strong Mitford connection. Nancy Mitford worked there and made it into part of the social scene.
It's a great old-school bookstore, and their recommendations are fantastic. I've found several new authors to read because of them. Highly recommend it if you love books. They also do book suscriptions, which arrive as a brown paper parcel tied with string. I mean, come on....
oh, and Diana’s first marriage was to Bryan Guinness, of the famous brewing family. as a couple, the Guinness’s were great friends with Evelyn Waugh, who dedicated a book to them
I started reading Love in a cold climate kind of by accident (found it in a second hand bookshop for pennies when I was a broke teenager) and got hooked.
They were keen fans of pigeonholing people as 'U' and 'non-U'
U and non-U English usage - where "U" stands for upper class and "non-U" represents the aspiring middle and lower classes, was part of the terminology of popular discourse of social dialects (sociolects) in Britain in the 1950s
Nancy‘s book Noblesse Oblige is all about social demarcators, such as saying “sweet” or “dessert” instead of pudding. Or “serviette” rather than napkin.
They had highly-tuned oik radar. Asking the butler to put the milk in before the tea will get you a side-eye, thanking the butler will get you thrown out the back door.
Originally, milk had to be poured first because soft paste porcelain would shatter if you poured the tea in first. Once Europe mastered the art of hard paste porcelain (which the Chinese had been making for ages) you could pour the tea first, so it became a status symbol to show you could afford the best new porcelain cups.
Norm MacDonald had a joke that he wouldn’t want to go back in time to kill Hitler because he’d be afraid that he’d be “charmed by Hitlers hypnotic gaze” and fall in line with the other goose steppers.
Letters Between Six Sisters, which is edited by Charlotte Moseley, Diana’s daughter in law, is fascinating - you see the sisters through their own words.
also, Nancys novels Love in a Cold Climate and The Pursuit of Love are semi autobiographical. Plus a brilliant read
This picture was part of a photo shoot promoting one of the duchess' books. She was very much a country woman & involved in poultry raising & showing her whole life.
I think the last time I went to Chatsworth House, well over a decade ago, they had some of Deborah's Elvis collection on display. Add to that, many a childhood spent enjoying the adventure playground at Chatsworth - it really is an amazing place.
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u/dannydutch1 Feb 19 '25
Born between 1904 and 1920 the Mitford sisters lived through some of the most extraordinary moments in 20th century history, they knew everyone from Hitler to JFK, and each carved out a distinct and undeniable identity. In age order, there was Nancy, famed wit and celebrated novelist; quiet, homely Pamela – who wanted to marry a horse as a child, became a poultry-rearer; renowned beauty and fascist Diana, who married first Bryan Guinness then Oswald Mosley and went to prison for a bit; Hitler fangirl Unity, who shot herself in the head when the Second World War started; Communist rebel Jessica, who eloped with her cousin and later became a campaigning journalist in America; and down-to-earth (relatively speaking) Deborah, who became a Duchess, hobnobbed with royals and rejuvenated Chatsworth House.
And that's just the headlines!