The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family (75 page)

19
OSU/1698, JM to SR, 11 April 1943.

20
Ibid
., 30 May, 1943.

21
Ibid
., BT to Aranka, 27 June 1943.

22
Doris Brin Walker, ‘Dobbie’, interview with the author, San Francisco, 23 October 1999.

23
OSU/1698, JM to SR, 28 June 1943.

24
Ibid
., 21 July 1943.

25
Ibid
., 22 November 1943.

26
OSU, misc., JM to Winston Churchill, 24 November 1943.

27
A Fine Old Conflict
, p. 58.

28
When David found this question on forms he always answered, ‘Honourable’.

29
Soames, Mary (ed.),
Speaking for Themselves
(Doubleday, 1998), p. 486.

30
A Life of Contrasts
, p. 198.

31
Speaking for Themselves
, p. 488.

32
Possibly the development of ‘Window’, bundles of thin strips of aluminium foil ejected from high-flying aircraft, designed to confuse enemy radar.

33
A Life of Contrasts
, pp. 199–200.

34
Guinness, Jonathan and Catherine,
The House of Mitford
(Hutchinson, 1984), p. 508

35
OSU/1698, SR to JM, 1 January 1943.

36
Ibid
., JM to SR, 27 March 1944.

37
Sally Norton.

38
Kick kept in constant touch with Billy while in Washington. A friend of the author, Quentin Keynes, who worked at the British embassy in Washington, knew her well and used to send their letters through the diplomatic bag.

39
Collier, Peter and Horowitz, David,
The Kennedys
(Secker & Warburg, 1984), p. 129.

Chapter 17: The French Lady Writer, 1944–7

1
James Lees-Milne recorded in his diary that the Duke of Wellington was furious when he heard that Debo had called her son ‘Morny’, which appeared to be a diminutive of the Wellesley title Lord Mornington. ‘How would you like it,’ he complained to the Duke of Devonshire at a party, ‘if I christened my grandson Harty of Burlington?’ Nancy broke in, ‘But Debo christened him after her favourite jockey. She’s never heard of the Duke of Wellington.’ See Lees-Milne, James,
Prophesying Peace
(John Murray, 1997), p. 345.

2
OSU/1698, JM to SR, 15 June 1944.

3
Ibid
., 27 March 1944.

4
Ibid
., DR to JM, 21 May 1944.

5
Ibid
., SR to JM, 16 May 1944.

6
Lord Hartington was killed on 10 September 1944.

7
Patsy White. See Collier, Peter, and Horowitz, David,
The Kennedys
(Secker & Warburg, 1984), p. 144.

8
Ibid
.

9
Ibid
.

10
Smith, Amanda,
A Hostage to Fortune
(Viking, 2001), p. 601.

11
NM to SR, 24 September 1944, in Mosley, Charlotte,
Love from Nancy
(Hodder & Stoughton, 1993), p. 167.

12
OSU/1698, SR to JM, 25 July 1944.

13
OSU/1709, NM to JM, 26 May 1944.

14
Prophesying Peace
, p. 294.

15
Mitford, Nancy,
The Pursuit of Love
(Hamish Hamilton, 1945), p. 193.

16
Prophesying Peace
, p. 344.

17
Ibid
., pp. 348–9.

18
Ibid
., p. 355.

19
Ibid
., p. 380.

20
Ibid
., p. 394.

21
Once part of British India, Burma became a separate state in 1937. Its government continued to function from India after occupation of the country by the Japanese.

22
The information on Major Freeman-Mitford’s death is taken from (a) the official Statement of the Company Commander, Devonshire Regiment (OSU 1701) and (b) Commonwealth War Graves Commission records. His grave is at Taukyan War Cemetery, plot 17 F20. See also OSU/1698, SR to JM, 19 June 1945.

23
Prophesying Peace
, p. 425.

24
Lees-Milne, James,
Deep Romantic Chasm
(John Murray, 2000), p. 101.

25
OSU/1698, SR to JM, 22 April 1945.

26
Prophesying Peace
, p. 425.

27
Ibid
., p. 426.

28
Ibid
., p. 460.

29
RT, interview with the author, Oakland, California, October 1999.

30
OSU/1698, JM to NM.

31
OSU/1707, 13 April 1945.

32
OSU/1698, 22 April 1945.

33
NM to EW, 17 January 1945, in
Love from Nancy
, p. 175.

34
Author and publisher, editor of the
London Magazine
, and godson of Mrs Violet Hammersley.

35
NM to SR, 17 September 1945, in
Love from Nancy
, pp. 184–5.

36
NM to Randolph Churchill, 30 September 1945, in
ibid
., p. 187.

37
John Betjeman to NM, 19 December 1945, in Lycett-Green, Candida (ed.),
John Betjeman Letters
(Methuen, 1990), p. 378.

38
NM to Gaston Palewski, 20 January 1946, in
Love from Nancy
, p. 195.

39
Guinness, Jonathan and Catherine,
The House of Mitford
(Hutchinson, 1984), p. 444.

40
11 February 1947.

41
OSU/1698, SR to JM, 24 March 1945.

42
Ibid
., Hasties (Mitford family solicitors) to JM, 15 June 1945.

43
Cockburn, Claud, ‘Island Fling’,
Punch
, 30 March 1960.

44
Ibid
.

45
OSU/1698, JM to SR, 21 May 1946.

46
Ibid
., SR to JM, 4 February 1946.

47
956 Clayton Street, San Francisco.

48
Extract from RT’s address at the memorial for JM held in London.

49
RT, interview with the author, Oakland, California, October 1999.

50
Pele de Lappe, interview with the author, Petaluma, California, October 1999.

51
OSU/1698, JM to SR, c. December 1947.

52
CHP, Constancia ‘Dinky’ Romilly to SR, 27 January 1948.

53
OSU/1709, JM to NM, 16 November 1971.

54
RT, interview with the author, Oakland, California, October 1999.

55
OSU/1709, JM to NM, 13 October 1971.

56
Constancia ‘Dinky’ Romilly, interview with the author, California, October 1999.

57
OSU/sundry. Transcript of an interview with Jessica Mitford by a TV crew.

58
OSU/1709, JM to NM, 13 October 1971.

59
NM to DM, 19 February 1947, in
Love from Nancy
, pp. 223–4

60
DM to the author, 16 January 2001.

Chapter 18: Truth and Consequences, 1948–55

1
Collier, Peter and Horowitz, David,
The Kennedys
(Secker & Warburg, 1984), pp. 169–71.

2
Guinness, Jonathan and Catherine,
The House of Mitford
(Hutchinson, 1984), p. 443.

3
Pryce-Jones, David,
Unity Mitford
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976), p. 260.

4
Interview with the author, October 1999.

5
OSU/1698, 26 June 1948.

6
YUL, SR to JLM, 18 June 1948.

7
Lycett-Green, Candida (ed.),
John Betjeman Letters
1926–1951 (Methuen, 1990), pp. 369–70.

8
DM to the author, January 2001.

9
John Betjeman Letters
. p. 473.

10
Skidelsky, Robert, Oswald
Mosley
(Macmillan, 1975), p. 481.

11
Ibid
.

12
Ibid
., p. 505.

13
Mosley, Diana,
A Life of Contrasts
(Hamish Hamilton, 1977), p. 218.

14
Mosley, Sir Oswald,
My Life
(Nelson, 1970), p. 424.

15
This began a long link between the family and OSU. Alexander
Mosley
would spend several years at OSU, and by coincidence the papers of Jessica were purchased by the Rare Books and MSS Department, making the college one of the main sources for Mitford researchers.

16
Victor Christian, 9th Duke of Devonshire (d. 1938) represented West Derbyshire from the age of twenty-three in 1891. Edward William Spencer, the 10th Duke (1895–1950) was MP for West Derbyshire from 1923–38.

17
Duchess of Devonshire,
The Estate
(Macmillan 1990), p. xxiii.

18
Increased to seven years in 1968.

19
After an old friend of Debo.

20
Murphy, Sophia,
The Mitford Family Album
(Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985), p. 123.

21
JM to Gaston Palewski, 23 September 1946, in Mosley, Charlotte,
Love from Nancy
(Hodder & Stoughton, 1993).

22
NM to DM, 17 May 1947, in
ibid
., p. 229.

23
Margot de Gramont.

24
NM to Gaston Palewski, 26 July 1948, in
Love from Nancy
, p. 266.