thumb|The Mitford family in 1928

The Mitford family is an aristocratic British family who became particularly well known in the 1930s for the six Mitford sisters, the daughters of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, and his wife, Sydney Bowles. They were celebrated and sometimes scandalous figures. One journalist described them as "Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover, Nancy the Novelist, Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur."

Background

thumb|right|150px|Arms of Freeman-Mitford

The family 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 line had its family seat first at Mitford Castle, then Mitford Old Manor House, prior to building Mitford Hall in 1828. All three are near Mitford, Northumberland. 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 (1744–1827) and were twice elevated to the British peerage, in 1802 and 1902, under the title Baron Redesdale. This branch of the family, to whom the Mitford sisters belonged, were seated at Batsford Park, Gloucestershire, and then at Asthall Manor and Swinbrook, in Oxfordshire.

Mitford siblings

  • Nancy Mitford (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973) married Peter Rodd, whom she subsequently divorced, and had a longstanding relationship with French politician and statesman Gaston Palewski. She lived in France for much of her adult life. She wrote many novels, including the semi-autobiographical The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. She was also a biographer of historical figures, including the Sun King.
  • Pamela "Pam" Mitford (25 November 1907 – 12 April 1994) was called "Woman" by her siblings. John Betjeman, who for a time was in love with her, referred to her as the "Rural Mitford". She married and later divorced millionaire physicist Derek Jackson, and spent much of the 1960s living with Giuditta Tommasi (died 1993), an Italian horsewoman.
  • Thomas David "Tom" Mitford (2 January 1909 – 30 March 1945), the only son, was educated at Eton, where he had an affair with James Lees-Milne. He later had a lengthy affair with Austrian Jewish dancer Tilly Losch during her marriage to Edward James. According to Jessica's letters, Thomas supported British fascism and was posted to the Burma campaign after he had refused to fight in Europe. Her adulation of, and friendship with, Adolf Hitler was widely publicised. She shot herself in the head just hours after Britain declared war on Germany, She died of pneumococcal meningitis at West Highland Cottage Hospital, Oban.
  • Jessica Lucy "Decca" Mitford (11 September 1917 – 23 July 1996), called "Boud" by her sister Unity whom she also called by the same name. She married Andrew Cavendish (1920—2004), who later became the Duke of Devonshire, and with him turned his ancestral home Chatsworth House into one of Britain's most successful stately homes. She wrote several books.

Mitford sisters

thumb|Cover of [[The Sketch, 1932]]

thumb|Family tree

The sisters gained widespread attention for their stylish and controversial lives as young people, and for their public political divisions between communism and fascism. Nancy and Jessica became well-known writers: Nancy wrote The Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love in a Cold Climate (1949), and Jessica The American Way of Death (1963). Deborah managed Chatsworth House, one of the most successful stately homes in the United Kingdom.

Jessica and Deborah married nephews of prime ministers Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan, respectively. Deborah and Diana both married wealthy aristocrats. Unity and Diana were well known during the 1930s for being close to Adolf Hitler. Jessica turned her back on her inherited privileges and eloped with her cousin, Esmond Romilly, who was hoping to report on the Spanish Civil War for the News Chronicle, having briefly fought with the International Brigade. Jessica's memoir, Hons and Rebels, describes their upbringing. Nancy drew upon her family members for characters in her novels. In 1981, Deborah became politically active when she and her husband Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, joined the new Social Democratic Party. They also lived in a cottage in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, which they used as a summer residence.

The siblings grew up in an aristocratic country house with emotionally distant parents and a large household with numerous servants. This family dynamic was not unusual for upper-class families of the time. The parents disregarded formal education of women of the family, and they were expected to marry at a young age to a prosperous husband. The children had a private language called "Boudledidge" (), and each had a different nickname for the others.

After the Nazi regime started the invasion of Poland, the Second World War began and their political views came into sharper relief. "Farve" remained a conservative who had long favoured Neville Chamberlain's approach of appeasing Nazi Germany. Once Britain declared war on Germany, he returned to being an anti-German British patriot. "Muv" continued her fascist sympathies and usually supported her fascist children. The couple separated in 1943 as a result of this conflict. Pamela remained seemingly non-political, although according to her sister Nancy, Pamela and Derek Jackson were virulent anti-Semites verbally during World War II, who had called for all Jews in England to be killed, and wanted an early end to the war with Nazi Germany before England lost any more money. In many letters Jessica said that her daughter Constancia received a pension from the Canadian government after Esmond's death until she turned 18.

  • Diana Mitford is depicted in season 6 of the BBC/Netflix TV series Peaky Blinders (2022), played by British actress Amber Anderson. The show is set in the 1930s and depicts Diana and husband Oswald Mosley getting involved with fictional protagonist Tommy Shelby to advance their political goals.
  • In the Discworld novel The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett, werewolf Watchwoman Angua von Überwald refers to two relatives of hers as Nancy and Unity. Angua's brother Wolfgang is a werewolf supremacist whose personal insignia reflect those of Nazism.
  • In the fourth series of the BBC comedy television series The Thick of It, British Government minister Peter Mannion describes his special adviser Emma Messinger as having "turned into the wrong Mitford sister" during a presentation where she remarks on the physical attractiveness of Dan Miller, a likely candidate for Leader of the Opposition.
  • Outrageous is a 2025 British television series about the Mitford sisters.

The Mitford sisters by William Acton:

<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">

File:Nancy Mitford.jpg|Nancy Mitford (1904–1973)

File:Pamela Mitford.jpg|Pamela Mitford (1907–1994)

File:Diana Mitford by William Acton.jpg|Diana Mitford (1910–2003)

File:Unity Mitford by William Acton.jpg|Unity Mitford (1914–1948)

File:Jessica Mitford, by William Acton.jpg|Jessica Mitford (1917–1996)

File:Deborah Mitford.jpg|Deborah Mitford (1920–2014)

</gallery>

References

Informational notes

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Nancy Mitford Website
  • The Mitford Society, Facebook