The House of Mitford

by Jonathan Guinness

Among the six daughters and one son born to David, second Lord Redesdale, and his wife Sydney were Nancy, the novelist and historian; Diana, who married fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley; Unity, friend of Hitler; Jessica, who became a communist and then an investigative journalist; and Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire and mistress of Chatsworth. 'The Mitford Girls', as John Betjeman called them, were one of the twentieth century's most controversial families; said to be always either in shrieks of laughter or floods of tears, they were glamorous, romantic and - especially in politics - extreme. Yet the teasing, often bordering on cruelty, the flamboyant contrasts and the violent disagreements, hid a powerful affection, subtle likenesses in character and a powerful underlying unity.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, 20th Century, British Literature, Biography Memoir, Memoir

796 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 24, 1985

Reviews

[C.S. Burrough · Rating 5 out of 5]

After this sitting considerably far down my Mitford history reading list, I was taken by its erudition. My expectations were cynical, knowing it was penned by family insiders: author Jonathon Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne, is the eldest son of Diana Mitford Mosley by her first husband Bryan Guinness; his co-author is his daughter the Hon. Catherine Guinness. My tainted expectations could not have been wider off the mark.

Not only is there a marked absence of family bias, but the wordsmithing outshines every Mitford biography I have read. He does his forebears proud, his craftsmanship a testament to this clever bloodline. His being schooled at Eton and Oxford, one might expect this standard, but others with similar academic foundations have produced less impressive works.

I did not find, as certain readers have implied, any pro-Conservative slant to the narrative (the author was a Conservative Party Parliamentary Candidate). Wary of rightwing undertones, I here found objectivity from start to finish. Graced with impartiality, the content may stop short of censuring history's political right, which is not tantamount to partisanship.

I did sense, in certain of Jonathon Guinness's references to his novelist aunt Nancy Mitford, subtle retributory tones on behalf of his mother Diana who spent most of WWII in prison partly thanks to Nancy. That history, well documented by all Mitford biographers, goes like this:

After leaving her first husband for British Union of Fascists leader Sir Oswald Mosley, Diana spent time in Germany with Hitler and his inner-circle in the prelude to WWII, aiming for a Nazi-approved radio station for the BUF which never eventuated. When Mosely was imprisoned early in the war under 18B as a potentially dangerous person, Diana was initially left to do much of his bidding on the outside. Nancy was summoned by MI5 to comment on how 'dangerous' she thought her younger sister. Putting patriotic duty before blood, Nancy said she thought Diana 'highly dangerous', swaying the government's decision to lock up Diana too. Separated from her babies, Diana was accordingly detained without charge or trial for years, subject to the horrors of Holloway Jail. Diana never learned of this sisterly betrayal until late in life and Mosley never learned of it.

So, one could understand any tinge of injustice felt on his mother's behalf by this author, who as a youngster witnessed her long imprisonment. Yet this is barely evident, if only hinted at (how much of the text his co-author daughter Catherine contributed is unclear).

The telling of Mosley's career itself is presented minus the fascist-bashing righteousness of many, from a rational 'setting-the-record-straight' standpoint. That seems fair considering the author is Mosley's stepson. It carries no hint of the fascist apologist we might anticipate.

(Prior to this book, after Mosley's death his birth son from his first marriage to Lady Cynthia Mosley, Nicholas Mosley, had written harsh volumes against his fascist father, for which Mosley's widow Diana never forgave her stepson.)

I confess to being least taken by the convoluted earlier histories and lineages of the Mitford sisters' two grandfathers, Algernon Freeman-Mitford ('Barty') and Thomas Gibson-Bowles. Even so these are more impeccably detailed than any other Mitford historian's efforts I've encountered.

To call this author's archival prowess masterly is a gross understatement. This book, Mitford descendants can keep in stately libraries and others can consult through the mists of time. I wish I had read this particular Mitford history sooner as it surpasses all others.

With Jonathon Guinness in his mid-nineties as I write this review of a book published forty years ago, there still feels to be some carryover from these remarkable sisters, all now long dead.

A self-proclaimed Mitford aficionado, I now see this as the definitive biography of this canon.

[Kaveri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since reading Nancy Mitford's "The Pursuit of Love" and Decca Mitford's "Hons and Rebels", I've been fascinated with Mitford sisters. Born into a family of old-fashioned, deeply traditional British landed gentry amidst the upheavals of the 20th century, the sisters developed along wildly different paths. Nancy became a pleasure-loving, bohemian "Bright Young Thing" and eventually an author; Decca became a Communist, running off to help the Spanish Republic and eventually working as leftist journalist in America; Diana joined the British Fascist party and married its leader; Unity became a Nazi and friend of Hitler. But Nancy and Decca's books treat all these developments as primarily piquant and amusing, skimmingly lightly across the surface of even the most extreme clashes of individuals and ideologies. I had hoped that Jonathan Guinness' group memoir of the sisters would serve up more insight into the dynamics of a family whose conflicts so dramatically echoed those that were taking place on the world stage.
To some extent, it does, since it offers a fuller picture of other members of the family--less-famous siblings, grandparents, and most interestingly, the parents. But Guinness is hopelessly biased--perhaps not surprisingly since he is the son of Diana Mitford. Much of the book gets bogged down in an attempt to salvage her reputation and to take down those of Nancy and Decca, her political opponents.

[Barbara Mader · Rating 1 out of 5]

I willed myself on through this book, reading closely for bits I didn't know, but it was uphill work. The writing was terrible: horrible style, lack of organization, lousy paragraph structure, pathetic transitions, repeated cliches, clumsy phrasing, etc., etc. The heavy-handed attempts to put Diana in a good light also grated after a while. Lovell's book is much better. Despite my interest in the subject, I barely got through this.

Must add that the Guinnesses (those who wrote this) don't sound very bright.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a bit obsessed with the Mitfords but this book was boring. It suffers from the fact that the author is a nephew of the sisters but he is also not a very good writer.

[Ghost of the Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soooooo.....I have no clue how to start this review, better get straight to the point.
Is this one worth your time? Yes if you have read about the (in)famous sisters before, otherwise you will probably get the wrong impression starting here.
My humble suggestion to anyone who's heard of the sisters but never read anything on them, start with Mary Lovell's biography - at least for me its the most complete and independent portrait of them. Once you are done with Mary Lovell, try something of Nancy's or even Nancy's biography done by the fantastic Harold Acton. After that if you feel rebelious by all means dip into some Jessica Mitford, but if you're more curious about what happened before the sisters grew up, and how they grew up as they did - this one here might be your best bet.
House of Mitford introduces you to the generation before the sisters, their grandparents, who they were, how they related to the world around them and it goes a good way towards explaining some of that uniqueness that defines the family even all these years later.
Is this an impartial book? oh heck no, but you can't really be suprised since its written by a family member. right?
What this does is add a few brushstrokes to the Mitford painting, allowing us a glimpse behind the veil and a better understanding of some information found in other period sources.
It is a somewhat less than engaging reading but the information contained within, if you are a Mitford "fan" is worth the time and the patience, so come along dear reader, sit down with a pot of tea and enjoy the time travel :)

I'm only giving it 3 starts due to writting style and the (somewhat expected) partiality.

Happy Readings!

GL

[Halli Villegas · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book so much. I would have given no stars but I was interested in the background of the grandfathers. I was all prepared to enjoy the frolics and foibles of this misguided but quirky upperclass group of gals. Instead I got a son's apologia for rampant anti-Semitism, classism, snobbishness, and general nastiness. The excuses flew fast and furious. The denial of facts was amazing. The utter contempt for anyone who might think it was a good idea that two of Hitler's biggest supporters and buddies might be put in jail during the worst of WW2 because after all they were "aristocrats," and so presumably would never, ever give up secrets. I especially liked the scorn of whoever gave Unity the name Hitler Groupie. How ridiculous but here is a picture of Aunt Unity in her room in Germany surrounded by glamour shots of Hitler. Just the way Diana and Unity referred to him is enough to make you sick. And then, oh well when people met Mosley and Diana at parties they saw they were quite charming so never mind their politics. Read this book only if you want to see how the rich can justify their deeply held prejudices and disdain for being held accountable for your actions. I am sure they would be Trump supporters if they were alive today.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since reading Mary Lovell’s book on the Mitford sisters, I have been intrigued by the family.
This book gave an in-depth exploration but was tediously detailed. I ended up reading other books around this as I found it a slog to get through. As I suggest, it is informative just not particularly engaging or entertaining.

[Marcelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

About 1/2 way through and starting to skip around a bit...it's a big book and I'm finding some of the sisters more interesting than others, but overall what a fascinating family.

[Caroline Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This lengthy book on the Mitfords is very interesting although I did feel there was a right wing bias particularly in Jonathan Guinness' attitude towards his left wing aunt Jessica and far right stepfather (fascist leader, Oswald Mosley). A great deal is written about Nancy, Diana (and her marriage to Mosley) and Unity and not so much about Jessica, Pamela, Tom and Debo. There are also 2 very lengthy chapters on the Mitford grandfathers which were perhaps too long.

Many years ago I read and really enjoyed Jessica Mitford's book 'Hons and Rebels' so it was disappointing to see it rather disparaged in this book.

Overall very enjoyable, but be prepared for the bias and relationship of the author to one of the Mitfords in particular.

[Bonnie Ludlum · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fascinating information about the family of Mitford from the late 19th through the 20th centuries. I liked this book because the authors are descendants of the family, son and granddaughter of Diana Mitford respectively. I believe this version of the Mitford family has an edge over other Mitford books due to this. It has detailed information about the entire family going back to the grandparents.
It is a long story while very informative and detailed. I would recommend it. The Mitford’s story is one of those family dynasty stories that captures the imagination and has one wanting to know more.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting family dynamic. Seeing Unity pictured at a Nazi rally in Germany just chilled me to the bone. I'm so glad I read this book, but can safely say that I have no interest whatsoever in reading any of the historical 'fiction' books about the Mitford girls. My stomach has been turned enough...

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn to the Mitfords through reading Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford, and this book does give a lot of detail. It's just that it is rather difficult to read, a bit of a slog, and it isn't well organised.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

May try this one again...had to skip some sections and try to get to others, hoping it would get better as I went along. It didn't. Very cumbersome and makes an exciting family almost boring because of the deep dive into the most mundane details.

[Rachel Shalev · Rating 1 out of 5]

An Apologia for the popular but terrible Mitford family,

Written by the son of the Hitler admirer Diana Mosley this book is an apologia for the Mitfords - admirers of mass murderers Hitler and Stalin, haters of democracy, snobs and to add to the toxic mix , antisemites

[Digby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Whitewashing the dark bits.

[Joan Dunbar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read.

[Seren Senior · Rating 2 out of 5]

Verging on panegyric with some unapologetically colonialist passages, I found this an incredibly uncomfortable read.

[Etta Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading about the Mitford is endlessly fascinating and this is one of the biographies.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

for another time..Too long

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book has a clear agenda to rehabilitate Fascists Oswald Mosley and Diana Mitford.

[Deborah Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a real uphill struggle for me, which is unusual for a biographical book. I found the fact that the writers were family members, did not help in this instance. The writers seemed to think that the reader knew the whole story of the family before they read the book. I would guess that most people were like me, they knew parts of the story and some of the political affiliations; but certainly not all. And not all of the outcomes for the members of this troubled family. There were a lot of lists in this book, which were a bit boring. For example, all the names of people at a particular weekends shooting party. To be honest I found the earlier chapters about the opening up of Japan and the ancestors of the House of Mitford, much more interesting and better written. On the whole, disappointing.(Didn’t enjoy the repetition of certain weird words like ‘recondite’ for example.Very annoying after a while.)
4th Book club selection. Netley ladies

[Rebecca Wilkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book by Diana's son Jonathan is much less objective than Mary Lovell's The Sisters, The Saga of the Mitford Family that I read in the past. He obviously favors his mother. The other Mitford books I have are Wait For Me by Debo, the Duchess of Devonshire and The Letters of Nancy Mitford, this latter I abandoned after a few chapters. I am not quite sure how I got on this kick. I was probably wondering how these sisters could get so crazy over politics. Diana, the Fascist, Decca, the Communist and Unity, the Hitler lover. Is it just middle children needing attention? But the quote from this book about their mother Sydney may offer a hint, "Sydney relied too much on the evidence of her own senses and believed too little the perfectly valid experience of others." The sisters were all home-schooled or left to just read whatever they wanted without much supervision. Then Jonathan says that the men they were attracted to, Mosley for Diana, Edmond for Decca and Hitler for Unity just combined passion for a man with passion for a cause. What one does for love so to speak. Nancy, the oldest and the writer living in Paris, Pam the country girl and Debo, the Duchess (after her husband's older brother died in WW2---he was married to Kathleen Kennedy who also died in the 1940's) were the 3 non or lesser political sisters. Debo worked to make her husband's family home Chatsworth a tourist attraction and paying concern. She has been seen on PBS showing off the house and was the last to die in 2014. I tried to read The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evan as recommended by my history professor son-in-law but I was getting enough of the Nazi's with Unity in this book. I am still trying to understand why people choose the politics they do. The Righteous Mind was more helpful in that regard.

[Annalisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a shameless Mitford fan, naturally I enjoyed this book. Written by the son and granddaughter of Diana Mitford Mosely, it is naturally a defense of the House of Mitford, and for the most part comes across as a reasonable one. The portraits painted of the family are more intimate than those in other books. It gets beyond the caricatures and describes actual three-dimensional people, family dynamics and the historical context that explains much which might otherwise seem inexplicable I especially appreciated the portraits of the very interesting grandfathers Mitford and Bowles who led quite remarkable lives. I only wish that Jonathan had written a little more on a personal level about Diana and how she managed her role as mother and stepmother through a scandalous divorce and remarriage, and later from prison. Ultimately, the thing I love the best about the Mitfords and the reason I love them at all, is their sense of humour. It is their wit more than anything that is indelible.

[Margo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Downton Abbey on Acid: Non-Fiction history of impoversihed British aritocratic family well known for being super wacky, eccentrics. This book follows their lineage to see how the family turned out so wack.

The most famous/infamous generation of the Mitford family is that of WWII era. Of the Mitford daughters 2 were buddies w/Hitler and hard-core Nazis, 1 a Communist, 1 a popular writer, 1 a sheep farmer and 1 a Duchess.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written shortly after the death of Mosley, it is in part an exploration of (if not an apologia for) Diana's involvement in his movement, written very skilfully by her descendants. But it has many worthwhile aspects, including the information on the Mitford grandfathers, Bertie Redesdale and Tommy (or Tap) Bowles. I would love it if Sadie's unpublished manuscript, referred to in the book, were available for readers.

[Kay Robart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book successfully shows that despite all the family disagreements and bickering, underlying it all was strong family affection and unity. The book didn’t do much, however, to answer my initial questions about how an admittedly eccentric but not very political upbringing could produce such extremes of personalities and beliefs in a single generation.

See my complete review here:

http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/t...

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

The early parts of the book on the Various Mitford ancestors interested me most but I bogged down as we neared the twentieth century and just didn't get beyond Sydney and David's wedding.
May be I will come back to it, but there is so much on my 'want to read list' that I will turn my attention there rather than persist.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book! It was a well-researched and thorough recounting of a most fascinating family. However, since Jonathan is Diana's son, I wish he 1) would have offered more personal insights and 2) wouldn't have referred to himself in the third person. These are minor complaints, though, and the book was well written and intriguing.

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skimmed passages of this book which seems so outdated in light of other books I have read. The prose is unnecessarily thick and pedantic. Not a good casual read. I'm pulling out of this one and starting to read the Mitford Letters book.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must for anyone who is in love with the Mitford family. It provides a detailed history of the entire family and it serves as a great reference book in later years as you forget some of the details of the family.