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.
35 Ibid., 3 June 1949, p. 282.
Chapter 19: Return to the Old Country, 1955–8
1 CHP, JM to SR, c. February 1954.
2 Ibid., SR to JM, 28 February 1954.
3 Extract from programme of testimonial dinner given for the Treuhafts in 1985.
4 Mitford, Jessica, A Fine Old Conflict (Michael Joseph, 1977), pp. 163–64.
5 Ibid., p. 164.
6 Many years later they fought to obtain a copy of their FBI file through the Freedom of Information Act. Decca said that reading it she could see her old life flashing before her eyes as though she were drowning.
7 A Fine Old Conflict, p. 174.
8 OSU, Constancia ‘Dinky’ Romilly to RT, 21 March 1993.
9 OSU/1629, JM to Kay Graham, 13 March 1979.
10 OSU/1699, SR to JM, 26 February 1955.
11 OSU, RT file, Constancia ‘Dinky’ Romilly to RT, 21 March 1993.
12 RT, interview with the author, Oakland, October 1999.
13 CHP, JM to SR, 6 August 1955.
14 Mosley, Diana, A Life of Contrasts (Hamish Hamilton, 1977), p. 256.
15 OSU/1699, DR to SR, 7 June 1954.
16 RT, interview with the author, Oakland, October 1999.
17 OSU/1698, SR to JM, 26 March 1956.
18 Julia Budworth to the author, 29 May 2000.
19 A Fine Old Conflict, p. 183.
20 Pele de Lappe papers, JM to Pele de Lappe, 20 September 1955.
21 Since then the National Trust has changed the arrangements for acceptance of a property, and will only take houses where there is an endowment to ensure adequate upkeep. Also, many National Trust properties are now let at commercial rents to suitable tenants who run the properties partly as family homes. Even so, the difference between an unoccupied National Trust property and an ancestral seat still occupied by the family is marked, e.g. Hardwick vs Woburn.
22 A Fine Old Conflict, p. 194.
23 Ibid.
24 NM to Raymond Mortimer, 8 September 1955, in Mosley, Charlotte, Love from Nancy (Hodder & Stoughton, 1993), p. 407.
25 NM to Evelyn Waugh, 4 August 1955, in ibid., p. 404.
26 A Fine Old Conflict, p. 197.
27 19 November 1955, in Love from Nancy, p. 410.
28 Decca believed Pam was a lesbian. It is true that Pam shared her home with another woman for a number of years but all the surviving written evidence points to this being a platonic rather than a sexual relationship.
29 OSU, RT file, JM to RT, 12 November 1955.
30 Constancia ‘Dinky’ Romilly, interview with the author, October 1999.
31 George Gutekunst, interview with the author, Sonoma, October 1999.
32 A Fine Old Conflict, p. 203.
33 Reprinted in The Lively Arts, date unknown. See transcript of interview in OSU/155.
34 Marge (Frantz), Pele (de Lappe) and Betty (Bacon).
35 OSU/1698, 4 January 1957; about $50,000.
36 NM to SR, 6 September 1952, in Love from Nancy, p. 358.
37 Sunday Times, 7 March 1954.
38 Manchester Guardian, 12 March 1954. See Love from Nancy, pp. 381–2.
39 Ibid., p. 369.
40 Hastings, Selina, Nancy Mitford (Hamish Hamilton, 1985), p. 225.
41 Mitford, Nancy, Noblesse Oblige (Hamish Hamilton, 1956).
42 NM to Hugh Thomas, 15 March 1956, in Love from Nancy, p. 412.
43 Sophia Cavendish, b. 18 March 1957.
44 A Life of Contrasts, p. 257.
45 OSU/1699, SR to JM, 19 March 1958.
46 OSU/1707, NM to JM, 3 April 1958.
Chapter 20: A Cold Wind to the Heart, 1958–66
1 DM to the author, January 1999: ‘my two Guinness sons went to Oxford, Jonathan to Trinity and Desmond to Christ Church – I tell you this in case you think that like us my sons never went to University’.
2 Mosley, Oswald, My Life (Nelson, 1970), p. 430.
3 Mosley, Diana, A Life of Contrasts (Hamish Hamilton, 1977), p. 240.
4 My Life, p. 428.
5 Guinness, Jonathan and Catherine, The House of Mitford (Hutchinson, 1984), p. 534.
6 Lord Longford, interview with the author, House of Lords, May 2000.
7 NM to JM, 15 November 1968, in Mosley, Charlotte, Love from Nancy (Hodder & Stoughton, 1993), p. 556.
8 NM to Gaston Palewski, 12 June 1958, in ibid., p. 439.
9 OSU/1699, JM to SR, 30 June 1958.
10 RT recalls that the island was valued at $54,000 (about £11,000 then) so he and Decca were able to buy out the other shares for $27,000.
11 Decca had saved every penny she had ever received from the Canadian government widow’s pension – even at her most hard-up she had never used it. It was Dinky’s college fund.
12 OSU, RT file, JM to RT, 16 April 1959.
13 Ibid., various letters.
14 Mitford, Jessica, Hons and Rebels (Victor Gollancz, 1960), p. 228.
15 OSU/RT file, RT to JM, 26 April 1959.
16 RT, interview with the author, Oakland, California, October 1999.
17 Ibid.
18 OSU/1746, JM to RT, 15 May 1959.
19 But published in the USA as Daughters and Rebels. There was an unexpected boost to sales in the Deep South where it was shelved in bookshops with civil-war materials.
20 OSU, JM to Marge Frantz, 5 June 1959.
21 CHP, JM to DD, 17 August 1959.
22 OSU, JM to RT, 29
July 1959.
23 OSU/1699, 14 October 1959.
24 OSU/1700, SR to JM, 21 April 1960.
25 Rosemary Bailey, Julia Budworth.
26 OSU/100, SR to JM, 10 April 1960.
27 Ibid., 12 August 1959.
28 OSU/1707, NM to JM, 11 March 1960.
29 NM to Heywood Hill (2 letters), 9 and 16 March 1960, in Love from Nancy, pp. 446–7.
30 24 May 1960, in ibid., p. 450.
31 RT, interview with the author, Oakland, California, October 1999.
32 New York Post, 5 June 1960.
33 19 November 1960.
34 CHP, JM to DD, 11 July 1962.
35 Mitford, Nancy, The Water Beetle (Hamish Hamilton, 1962), pp. 6–9.
36 Madeau Stewart was the granddaughter of Tello, Sydney’s old governess and confidante. Tello had several children by Tap Bowles and therefore Madeau was Sydney’s half-niece. ‘We never spoke of family matters, or the family connection,’ Madeau told me, ‘although our families were always in touch.’ The Stewarts used to rent Sydney’s cottage at High Wycombe, for instance, but Madeau was forty before she discovered there was some family connection. Madeau Stewart, interview with the author, Burford, Oxon, 1999.
37 A Life of Contrasts, p. 255.
38 NM to Mark Ogilvie-Grant, 14 May 1963, in Love from Nancy, p. 488
39 21 May 1963, in ibid., p. 489.
40 OSU/1560, DD to JM, 31 May 1963.
41 OSU/1680, JM to Peter Nevile, 20 November 1991.
42 OSU, Constancia ‘Dinky’ Romilly to JM and RT, 25 September 1963. Also interview with the author, Oakland, California, 1999.
43 Mitford, Jessica, The American Way of Death (Simon & Schuster, 1963), p. 29.
44 OSU/1678, JM to Charlotte Mosley, 4 May 1996.
45 CHP, file, 1963. Cross-reference to JM letter, dated 30 January 1996. See also OSU, JM to RT, 23 June 1964: ‘Said he had read my book and for that reason chose the $900 one [casket]. Otherwise would have felt he must get the most expensive, last gesture he could make to his brother etc.’ When Bobby Kennedy was murdered Arthur Schlesinger was responsible for making the arrangements when the body arrived at Bethesda. He too recalled Decca’s book and chose one of the least expensive caskets, but later agonized about whether he was being ‘cheap’ or just sensible: ‘I remember thinking about how difficult it must be for everybody making that sort of decision.’ See his Robert Kennedy and His Times (Houghton Mifflin, 1978).
46 The matter did not end with post-publication publicity. Decca began a campaign for inexpensive funerals and with the help of a friend a funeral co-operative was established, which is still active.
47 Mitford, Jessica Poison Penmanship (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1979) p. 4.
Chapter 21: Views and Reviews, 1966–80
1 Her husband is Terry Webber.
2 OSU/709, NM to JM, 18 November 1965.
3 OSU/1776, RT file, RT to JM, 31 May 1965.
4 Pele de Lappe papers, JM to Pele, 11 August 1964, and interview with the author, California, October 1999.
5 Letter from Brigid Keenan to the author.
6 NM to DD, 29 March 1969, in Mosley, Charlotte, Love from Nancy (Hodder & Stoughton, 1993), p. 562.
7 OSU, JM to DD, 17 July 1969.
8 CHP, JM to DD, 13 May 1969.
9 Pele de Lappe, interview with the author, October 1999; JM to Pele, 26 May 1969.
10 RT, interview with the author, Oakland, California, 1999.
11 NM to DD, 24 October 1969, in Love from Nancy, p. 570.
12 OSU/1710, NM to JM, 23 May 1972.
13 CHP, JM to DD, 14 June 1973.
14 OSU, JM to RT, 14 June 1973.
15 OSU/1637, JM to William MacBrian, 30 September 1986.
16 A rare form of cancer, often called Hodgkin’s lymphoma because it affects the lymph glands and the body’s immune system. Treatment for this condition has now greatly improved and no sufferer would have to tolerate the pain that Nancy did.
17 OSU, JM to DD, 16 April 1994.
18 JM to James Lees-Milne, 24 May 1973.
19 JM to Gaston Palewski, 8 June 1973, in Love from Nancy, p. 606.
20 OSU/1712, Joan ‘Rudbin’ Rodzianko to JM, 5 July 1973.
21 OSU/1710, DD to JM, 8 July 1973.
22 Lees-Milne, James, Ancient as the Hills (John Murray, 1997), p. 57.
23 CHP, enclosure with JM to DD, c. June 1973.
24 Ibid., JM to DD, 19 September 1974.
25 Pryce-Jones, David, Unity Mitford (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1976), p. 1.
26 OSU/1561, JM to DD, 25 January 1974.
27 OSU/1361, DD to JM, 11 February 1974.
28 OSU/1642, JM to Idden (Ann Farrer Horne), 23 February 1980.
29 OSU/1651, PJ to JM, 22 September 1976.
30 CHP, 26 October 1976.
31 OSU misc., Clementine, Lady Beit to JM, c. November 1976.
32 OSU/1738, JM to Emma Tennant, 24 July 1985.
33 Dalley, Jan, Diana Mosley (Faber and Faber, 2000), p. 284.
34 Lees-Milne, James, Through Wood and Dale (John Murray, 1998), p. 160.
35 Mosley, Diana, A Life of Contrasts (Hamish Hamilton, 1977), p. 264.
36 YUL, DD to JLM, 29 July 1988.
37 Mosley, Diana, The Duchess of Windsor (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1980).
38 OSU/1713, Joan ‘Rudbin’ Rodzianko to JM, 22 September 1980.
39 Lees-Milne, James, Deep Romantic Chasm (John Murray, 2000), p. 86.
40 Sunday Times Magazine, ‘A Life in the Day’, DM in interview, November 1983.
41 Guinness, Jonathan and Catherine, The House of Mitford (Hutchinson, 1984), p. 553. It is probably fair to say that Myra Hindley, sentenced to life imprisonment more than thirty years ago for her part in the torture and murder of child victims, is the most hated woman in Britain. Lord Longford has campaigned for years for her release on the grounds that she has repented and is a reformed character. Each time this is suggested British newspapers are besieged with angry letters. The Home Secretary has recently stated that for Myra Hindley life means the whole of her life.
Chapter 22: Relatively Calm Waters, 1980–2000
1 Marge Frantz, interview with the author, Santa Cruz, October 1999.
2 In 1977.
3 Decca’s record choices included ‘The Red Flag’ and ‘I’m Sex Appeal Sarah’, a song she used to sing in Boudledidge to entertain visitors to Asthall.
4 Sunday Times Magazine, Julian Jebb, ‘The Mitford Sisters’, 25 May 1980.
5 Though it was a Raeburn, not an Aga.
6 OSU/1709, NM to JM, 15 November 1968.
7 ‘The Mitford Sisters’.
8 The Mitford Girls (1981) written by Ned Sherrin and Caryl Brahms.
9 OSU/1633, JM to Jonathan Guinness, 10 October 1983.
10 Guinness, Catherine, ‘Words with my Aunt, Jessica Mitford’, from an unidentified magazine, in JM’s scrapbook at her home in Oakland.
11 Interview in JM’s scrapbooks, at the Treuhaft home in Oakland.
12 San Francisco Chronicle, 21 September 1986.
13 OSU/1637, DD to JM, 2 December 1986.
14 One cannot help wondering if this DVT was caused by the long flight.
15 YUL, DM to JLM, 9 February 1988.
16 OSU/1783, JM to Dobbie Walker, 20 November 1989.
17 Desert Island Discs, presented by Sue Lawley, 26 November 1989.
18 Daily Telegraph, 27 November 1989, p. 36.
19 Her choice of records was entirely classical, pieces by Mozart, Beethoven and Puccini, a Chopin mazurka and two pieces of Wagner, the ‘Liebestod’ from Tristan and Isolde and a duet from The Valkyrie.
20 OSU/1651, JM to Contancia ‘Dinky’ Romilly, 12 April 1994.
The Sisters_The Saga of the Mitford Family Page 59
