Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters (59 page)

36 Quoted in
Unity Mitford: A Quest.

37 Ibid.

38 The three sisters wrote a letter to
The Times
, published 18 November 1976, in reference to David Pryce-Jones’s book, ‘which we do not accept as a true picture of her or of our family. We hold letters from a number of people quoted in the book saying that they have been misquoted. Some of these letters were supplied to the publisher before publication, but to little avail.’

39 To Deborah, 17 August 1976.

40 From a 1954 review in
The European
of
The Second World War
, vol. VI:
Triumph and Tragedy
by Winston Churchill. Diana states in the article that, owing to the war, the number of people living under Communism increased from 170 million to 770 million.

41 Letter dated 27 March 1944.

PART IV

  1 Thus Nancy wrote to Diana in 1962, in reference to
Curzon: The End of an Epoch
, a life of Mosley’s ex-father-in-law (by Leonard Mosley), published two years previously.

  2 In conversation with the author.

  3 In his autobiography
Formula One and Beyond
(Simon & Schuster, 2015), Max Mosley wrote of an apparent ambivalence in his father’s political views, something that could properly be understood only by reading Sir Oswald’s books. In an interview promoting the book, given in June 2015 to the BBC’s Radio 5-Live, he stated that his father had abandoned fascism as it had been proved not to work.

  4 In conversation with the author.

  5 In a 1951 portrait for the ‘Book of the Month Club News’.

  6 Used in conversation with the author.

  7 This too arose in conversation with the author: one of Diana’s friends – a man in his eighties who had also known Nancy – came to tea and hissed the remark when Diana (who was extremely deaf) turned away to draw back a curtain.

  8 In conversation with the author.

  9 In conversation with the author.

10 In conversation with the author.

11 Letter dated 17 August 1980.

12 Deborah to Jessica, 8 July 1973.

13 Letter dated 11 January 1949.

14 To Evelyn Waugh, 24 May 1960.

15 To Deborah, 21 March 1976.

16 During the 1976 debate with David Pryce-Jones on BBC Television’s
Tonight.

17 In conversation with the author.

18 In the 1988–9 interviews for the Berkeley Historical Society.

19 Nancy wrote to Evelyn Waugh (2 September 1955) that Jessica’s children had been told that Andrew Devonshire made his money by selling slaves. Deborah’s alleged comment was: ‘But if we had any slaves we wouldn’t
sell
them for anything.’ One would suspect typical Nancy exaggeration, were it not for the fact that the children had believed that they should bow to their grandmother, Sydney (see p. 306).

20 In the
Manchester Guardian
, Taylor wrote that Nancy had transported the Mitford family to the court of Versailles. This is generally regarded as a great
aperçu
but in fact has only the air of being one; it is clear that Taylor brought his preconceptions to
Pompadour.
Beneath her gleaming smiles Nancy was hurt by his review, and wrote to the
Guardian
to alert them to an incorrect quotation within it, although she was also at pains to remain gracious: ‘Please don’t answer, or bother Mr. Taylor again. I suppose what I minded was getting such a beating from the M. Guardian which is the only English paper I ever see. However such beatings are always deserved and should be taken without complaint.’

21 Nancy was parodying the first words of the monologue of Don Diègue in Pierre Corneille’s
Le Cid.

22 See p. 354, note 20.

23 
My Life
(Nelson, 1968).

AFTERWARDS

  1 From
Wait for Me!

  2 In conversation with Deborah Ross, the
Independent
, 12 November 2001.

Select Bibliography

Harold Acton,
Memoir of Nancy Mitford,
Hamish Hamilton 1975.

Mark Amory, editor,
The Letters of Evelyn Waugh,
Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1980.

Jan Dalley,
Diana Mosley,
Faber and Faber 2000.

Anne de Courcy,
Diana Mosley,
Chatto & Windus 2003.

Deborah Devonshire,
Wait For Me!
John Murray 2010.

Counting My Chickens
, Long Barn Books 2001.

Niall Ferguson, editor,
Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals,
Picador 1997.

Jonathan and Catherine Guinness,
The House of Mitford,
Hutchinson 1984.

Selina Hastings,
Nancy Mitford,
Hamish Hamilton 1985.

Bevis Hillier,
Young Betjeman,
John Murray 1988.

Betjeman: The Bonus of Laughter,
John Murray 2004.

James Lees-Milne,
Another Self,
Hamish Hamilton 1970.

Ancestral Voices,
John Murray 1975.

Ancient as the Hills,
John Murray 1997.

Deep Romantic Chasm,
John Murray 2000.

Mary S. Lovell,
The Mitford Girls,
Little Brown 2001.

Jessica Mitford,
Hons and Rebels,
Victor Gollancz 1960.

A Fine Old Conflict,
Michael Joseph 1977.

Nancy Mitford,
Highland Fling,
Thornton Butterworth 1931.

Christmas Pudding,
Thornton Butterworth 1932.

Wigs on the Green,
Thornton Butterworth 1935.

Pigeon Pie,
Hamish Hamilton 1940.

The Pursuit of Love,
Hamish Hamilton 1945.

Love in a Cold Climate,
Hamish Hamilton 1949.

The Blessing,
Hamish Hamilton 1951.

Madame de Pompadour,
Hamish Hamilton 1954.

Noblesse Oblige,
Hamish Hamilton 1956.

Don’t Tell Alfred,
Hamish Hamilton 1960.

The Water Beetle,
Hamish Hamilton 1962.

Charlotte Mosley, editor,
A Talent to Annoy: Essays, Journalism and Reviews by Nancy Mitford,
Hamish Hamilton 1986.

Love from Nancy: The Letters of Nancy Mitford,
Hodder and Stoughton 1993.

Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh,
Hodder and Stoughton 1996.

The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters,
Fourth Estate 2007.

Diana Mosley,
A Life of Contrasts,
Hamish Hamilton 1977.

Loved Ones,
Sidgwick & Jackson 1980.

Nicholas Mosley,
The Rules of the Game,
Secker & Warburg 1982.

Beyond the Pale,
Secker & Warburg 1983.

Sir Oswald Mosley,
My Life,
Nelson 1970.

David Pryce-Jones,
Unity Mitford: A Quest,
Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1976.

Martin Pugh,
We Danced All Night: A Social History of Britain Between the Wars,
The Bodley Head 2008.

Martin Rynja, editor,
The Pursuit of Laughter
– Diana Mosley,
Gibson Square 2009.

Acknowledgements

This analysis of the Mitford ‘phenomenon’ is immensely indebted to several books that have been written about the sisters. In particular I must acknowledge four brilliant biographies: Mary S. Lovell’s
The Mitford Girls,
David Pryce-Jones’s
Unity Mitford: A Quest
, Selina Hastings’s
Nancy Mitford
and Anne de Courcy’s
Diana Mosley.
I am hugely indebted to Charlotte Mosley, editor of the glorious Mitford correspondence, without which this book could not have been written. I should also like to acknowledge
The Pursuit of Laughter,
edited by Martin Rynja, a fascinating collection of the writings of Diana Mosley.

I remain grateful to Diana Mosley and Deborah Devonshire, to whom I spoke when they were the last surviving Mitford girls. These were encounters that I shall always treasure. It was also a great pleasure to meet Diana’s son, the late Alexander Mosley.

My thanks to Rogers, Coleridge and White, which handles the estates of Nancy Mitford and Deborah Devonshire; I am deeply grateful to Gill Coleridge and Rosie Price, who could not have been more helpful in dealing with my request for permissions.

I give my heartfelt thanks to Anthony Cheetham, who asked me to write this book; to all at Head of Zeus, especially Richard Milbank, Georgina Blackwell and Claire Nozières; and to my wonderful agent, Georgina Capel.

Lastly I extend gratitude to those who have generously granted permission for the use of copyright material, as follows:

The Estates of Nancy Mitford and Deborah Devonshire, for quotations from Nancy’s novels, journalism and letters.

The Estate of Deborah Devonshire, for quotations from Deborah’s writings.

Charlotte Mosley and the Estate of Diana Mosley, for quotations from Diana’s journalism and letters, together with letters from Lady Redesdale.

Benjamin D. Weber, agent for Jessica Mitford Heirs, for quotations from Jessica’s writings
.

The Hon. Rosaleen Mulji for quotations from letters written by her father, Bryan Guinness.

Hannah Goodman and the Orion Publishing Group, for quotations from
Unity Mitford: A Quest, The Letters of Evelyn Waugh
and
Hons and Rebels.

Jeanine Castello-Lin and Tonya Staros, Co-Presidents of the Berkeley Historical Society, for quotations from interviews with Robert Treuhaft conducted by Robert Larson.

David Higham Associates, for quotations from the writings of James Lee-Milne.

Attempts have been made to obtain permission for all the material used in this book. I apologize for any unforeseen omissions, and very much hope that any copyright holder will contact my publisher in order that these may be rectified in future editions.

Index

Acton, Harold 18, 108, 109–10, 111, 120, 279

Hum Drum
110

on Peter Rodd 149–50

Acton, William 108, 110

Adams, Dr John Bodkin 315

Airlie, Countess of 34–5

Almasy, Janos von 69, 159, 164, 280

The
American Way of Death
(Jessica Mitford) 263, 341

Anderson, Sir John 225–6

Anglo-German fellowship 6, 33, 87, 171, 191, 222

Ashburnham, Lady Georgina 34

Asthall Manor 4, 5, 13–14, 49–50, 54–5, 75, 79

sale of 78, 82

Austen, Jane 25

Baker, Oliver 230

Baldwin, Stanley 118, 133

Barney, Mrs Elvira 117

Batsford Park 4, 14, 46–8, 49, 54, 82, 83

and Bertie Mitford (grandfather) 30, 31–2, 33–4, 37

Beauvau-Craon, Prince de 294

Bellamy’s People
(BBC television programme) 19–20

Berners, Gerald 18, 111, 148, 181, 240, 275, 321

Betjeman, John 2, 49, 67, 109, 112, 124–5, 275

Bevan, Aneurin 133

Biddesden 112, 118, 124–7, 135, 241

Birch, Nigel 101

Birkett, Norman 233

Blair, Tony 86

Blanche, Anthony 110

The
Blessing
(Nancy Mitford) 60–1, 100–1, 253–4, 289, 293, 301, 323

‘Blor’ (Nancy Mitford) 60–1, 64, 331

Blor, Nanny (Laura Dicks) 43, 60–1, 94, 163, 180, 201

Boer War 40

Boothby, Bob 88, 130, 133

Bowden, Ada 43

Bowles, Dorothy ‘Weenie’ (aunt) 38, 63, 154, 187, 330

Bowles, Geoffrey 82–3

Bowles, Susan 36

Bowles, Sydney
see
Mitford, Sydney, Lady Redesdale (mother)

Bowles, Thomas Gibson (maternal grandfather) 36–7, 38, 63

Brand, Russell 200

Braun, Eva 167, 168

Brideshead Revisited
(Waugh) 15, 18, 97, 108, 156–7

British Union (of Fascists, BU/BUF) 6, 37, 134, 139–40, 146–9, 152–3, 156, 158, 159, 299

Battle of Cable Street 177

internment of members 241

and the Second World War 223–4, 226, 227, 229

The
Brown Book of the Hitler Terror
161–2

Butler, R.A. 224

Byron, Robert 108, 111, 113, 120, 135, 203, 247

Carrington, Dora 111, 126–7

Cavendish, Lord Andrew (later Duke of Devonshire) 240, 315–16, 344, 345–6

character 197

marriage to Deborah 196–8, 221, 265

war service 265, 279

Chamberlain, Houston Stewart 32–3, 44, 171

Chamberlain, Neville 132, 194, 195, 206

charm

and the Mitford phenomenon 18–19

Chatsworth House 2, 26, 314–16, 343–6

Christmas Pudding
(Nancy Mitford) 103–4, 105, 121, 125

Churchill, Clementine 249, 275

Churchill, Diana 92

Churchill, Randolph 70, 89, 91–2, 102, 136, 275

Churchill, Winston 70, 72, 174, 236

and Esmond Romilly 2, 35, 256

death of 258–9, 260

and the Mosleys’ imprisonment 240, 242–3, 249, 275–6

class

and the Mitford phenomenon 20–2

Clive, Archer 101

Communism 5, 6–7, 18

and the BUF 148, 159, 177

Communist Party and Inch Kenneth 284–5