TOM MITFORD AND HIS FAMILY FROM WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT

TOM MITFORD AND HIS FAMILY

From William Cross, FSA Scot

All The Mitfords In 1925

The Mitford Family 

 The father was David Freeman-Mitford, later Lord Redesdale, whose family could trace its origins back to the eleventh century Norman settlement of England. In 1904 he married Sydney Bowles who was the granddaughter of Thomas Bowles who established the two well-known London society magazines, “Vanity Fair” and “The Lady” in the late 1890’s. They had seven children, six girls and a boy, all of whom achieved public distinction or disgrace in varying degrees. In the above picture, taken in 1925, are, back row Nancy and Tom (Thomas), middle, Diana and Pamela, and front, Unity, Jessica and Deborah.

Tom Mitford in the 1930s

Tom Mitford, (1909-1945) the only  son  and heir of David and Sydney Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Lord and Lady Redesdale, brother of the  famous six girls, Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah.  Tom  died in the second world war in Burma from wounds sustained fighting the Japanese.  He di not outlived his parents or any of his six sisters. 

Who was Tom Mitford? He is described in the  family Church  at Swinbrook  as " a perfect son and brother" But was he? What was the true relationship between him and his parents,  sisters and his male and female contemporaries?  

Tom always wanted to be a concert pianist but his ambitions were crushed.  In his youth he masqueraded as ‘Bruno Hat’ in the 1920s art fraud,  in the 1930s he drove his mad sister Unity around Germany attending Nazi Rallies  saluting Adolf Hitler and befriending fascists.  As a barrister Tom defended the infamous murderess Alma Rattenbury, and a man who claimed to be the true King of England. As a lover Tom Mitford was cunning, conniving and mischievous indulging in affairs with both sexes. 

The writer William Cross, FSA Scot has written at length on Tom Mitford, with articles for the Mitford Annual, he also gives illustrated talks on Tom's life and times.

Cross comments : " Tom Mitford’s  story is often swept aside  by the headline antics and indulgences of his notorious siblings and their odd ball parents.  Yet Tom’s story is as fascinating and compelling as all of them put together."

Tom Mitford  And His  Siblings  

 Nancy (1904-1973) ( 2nd from right in pic)  & Pamela (1907-1994) ( end on right)  came before Tom.  

His four  younger sisters were Diana, (1910-2003) ( middle of pic)   Unity ( Bobo)(1914-1948), ( end on left of pic)  Jessica ( Decca ) 1917-1995) ( right of Diana in pic)  and Deborah ( Debo)       ( 1920-2014) ( to Tom's right in pic).

Tom Mitford was the only offspring  not  to give his parents  anxieties and nightmares. Nancy agitated  them  when she published  books  eroding the  family’s   privacy ever after, and subjecting herself to  Peter Rodd, a never do well egotist for a husband   after  a homosexual  fiancé, Hamish Erskine,  ( who had once had an affair with Tom). Diana alarmed ‘ Murv’ and ‘Farve’ when she sunk her first marriage destroying  Cimmie Curzon and marrying  a fascist ogre.  Pamela  when her engagement to Oliver Watney was halted on health grounds and a mismatch marriage to Derek Jackson  finally failed. Pamela, the coy country girl whom  Sidney left  her animals to be care for as the only daughter trusted with livestock, albeit later  Debo became proficient in  chicken feeding at Chatsworth. Poor, dim  Pamela  should have skipped the  ugly compromise  of marital normality  and  settled down earlier with the woman she loved. 

Bobo was a worry to her parents  when  she acclaimed she adored Adolf Hitler and  made a mess of shooting herself.  Decca  startled her  folks when she eloped  with her cousin Esmond,  injuring  her father  she later  dubbed  “ the old sub human” .  Decca was defiant,  revelled in  telling  a pack and  lies and chase me-chase- me games ,  delivering a  cruel stand off , getting pregnant,  becoming  a communist and an American.  The exception   was  Debo, who   married Andrew Cavendish,   the  second son of a Duke  but someone  “ addicted to alcohol for all of his adult life” .  When Andrew unexpectedly inherited the title. Debo  shone more brightly than every one of her Duchess  predecessors. But of the entire tribe Tom  was  perfect,  by comparison with all  the rest. He watched over all of them, but it suited him!

 TOM WAS THE SMARTEST OF THE WHOLE BUNCH

CONTACT THE AUTHOR WILLIAM CROSS ABOUT TALKS ETC  ON TOM MITFORD

williecross@aol.com

Tom Mitford ( left) in Germany 1937 at a Nazi Rally

 Hon. Thomas Freeman-Mitford (1909-1945) Son, Brother,  Barrister, Soldier, Musician, And Lover 

Tom Mitford : 1909-1945 : the perfect son and brother

Tom Mitford, featured on the extreme left in the above photograph – with Winston Churchill, Lord Birkenhead and Clemmie ( Churchill’s wife) was the handsome brother of the infamous six Mitford girls Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah.

Featured here little Tom ( Thomas David Freeman-Mitford) with sisters Nancy, Pam and Diana and their parents David and Sydney ( Bowles ) Freeman-Mitford, in the years before the Great War.The photograph is almost certainly taken at Batsford, the home of Tom's paternal grandparents Lord and Lady Redesdale

Tom Mitford’s story is often swept aside by the headline antics and indulgences of his notorious siblings and their odd ball parents. Yet Tom’s story is as fascinating and compelling as all of them put together.

Tom is featured here with his 'special sister' Diana Mitford.

Society Author William Cross, FSA Scot has made a close study of Tom Mitford’s life,loves, career and the relationship with his well known sisters and parents. The story and illustrated talk will shock and amuse : this is also a detailed insight into a topsy-turvy, dysfunctional family, perhaps Britain’s first soap opera. Tom’s family memorial at St Mary’s church, Swinbrook records him as being a “very perfect son and brother”. But was he? Contact William Cross for details. williecross@aol.com