The Mitford family is a minor aristocratic English family that traces its origins in Northumberland back to the time of the Norman Conquest. 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. This is a junior line, with seats at Newton Park, Northumberland and Exbury House, Hampshire. The line descends via the historian William Mitford. The Mitford family was twice elevated to the British peerage, in 1802 and 1902, under the title Baron Redesdale.[1]
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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 both 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 SDP.
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 (51°48′2.11″N 1°35′13.60″W / 51.8005861°N 1.587111°W), 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. According to the biographical sketches of many of the family characters in Nancy's novels, Jessica's memoir Hons and Rebels describes their upbringing. 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 non-political. Tom, a fascist, refused to fight Germany but volunteered to fight against Imperial Japan. He was killed in combat a short time after arriving in Asia. Diana (married to Oswald Mosley), a fascist, was interned 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 U.S., but her husband Esmond volunteered for the RCAF[2] and died when his bomber developed mechanical problems over the North Sea.[2] 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.[3] They were, it has been alleged, 'the most ardent burnishers of their own public image'.[4]
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.
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 their side into a homage to their 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'.
The House of Mitford by Jonathan Guinness (Hutchinson, London 1984) 'The Mitford Girls' by Mary S. Lovell (Little, Brown and Company 2001)
  | Genealogical pictures of the Mitford family - Mitford family pictures |
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