although they were so diametrically opposed politically, each recognised and accepted the commitment of the other. For David and Sydney, Jessica’s behaviour took its toll and made them feel even more beleaguered by their headline-provoking family.
For Debo, who together with Pam and Tom never gave her parents any cause for anxiety, the latter half of the 1930s was as traumatic as for any of the family. Swinbrook House, hated by the others but loved by her since she had spent most of her childhood there, was sold in 1936 because the state of David’s finances in the Depression made its upkeep impossible. They moved to Old Mill Cottage on the outskirts of High Wycombe, causing the family to chant, ‘from Batsford Mansion to Asthall Manor, to Swinbrook House, to Old Mill Cottage’ as an indication of their declining fortunes. Only Debo and Jessica moved there with their parents; at the end of 1936 Pam married Derek Jackson with whom Debo, aged 15, imagined herself in love. But Jessica’s flight to Spain, which she kept a secret even from her youngest sister, was a body blow for Debo. This was something which Jessica never realised and it also meant that Debo was often alone with nanny and the governess at Old Mill Cottage, which she hated. The cruise on which Sydney had planned to take the three younger girls early in 1937, and to which Debo was looking forward, was inevitably cancelled; she was not allowed to go to Jessica’s wedding either and thereafter was only able to meet her occasionally because she and Esmond did not see eye to eye.
Added to this, as the decade progressed, the deterioration of relations between her parents became more obvious. Although both of them had at first been impressed by Hitler and what he was doing for Germany, David eventually did a U-turn and the Germans once more became ‘beastly Huns’ to him; Sydney meanwhile stuck to her guns. Like Pam, Debo was apolitical, but the atmosphere which her parents’ opposing views inevitably created rubbed off on her, the only child left at home. She deserved that fur coat.
It was not all misery for Debo, however, because in 1938, just after her debutante season had ended, she met and fell in love with Lord Andrew Cavendish, the younger son of the Duke of Devonshire, to whom she later became engaged.
The tragedies of the turbulent thirties were not yet over for the Redesdales. Unity had vowed to shoot herself if her two beloved countries, England and Germany, went to war with one another, though she felt that Hitler’s admiration for England meant he would never attack. There was great relief when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain came back from meeting Hitler in Munich in 1938, claiming that he had achieved Peace with Honour.
But Hitler had no intention of keeping his side of the agreement. In March 1939 he invaded Czechoslovakia and then, ignoring warnings from Britain, followed this with an invasion of Poland at the beginning of September. Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. That same day, Unity went to the English Garden in Munich, took out her ivory-handled pistol and shot herself in the head.
Eight
Woman the Wife
D iana Mosley once remarked that Derek Jackson had been in love with most of the Mitfords, including Tom. He and Pam had first met at Biddesden while she was running the Guinnesses’ farm and it is possible that he chose her because she was the most readily available. In fact, it turned out to be one of the better choices he made in his private life. Her kind and calm nature combined with her housewifely skills made her the ideal wife for Derek at this most frenetic time of his career: he was at the cutting edge of the scientific world, had a particularly exacting role with the RAF during the war, to say nothing of his horse-racing exploits. Unlike Derek, Pam was neither clever, creative nor complex, but her lifelong friend, writer James Lees-Milne, paid tribute to her ‘nobility of character and
For Debo, who together with Pam and Tom never gave her parents any cause for anxiety, the latter half of the 1930s was as traumatic as for any of the family. Swinbrook House, hated by the others but loved by her since she had spent most of her childhood there, was sold in 1936 because the state of David’s finances in the Depression made its upkeep impossible. They moved to Old Mill Cottage on the outskirts of High Wycombe, causing the family to chant, ‘from Batsford Mansion to Asthall Manor, to Swinbrook House, to Old Mill Cottage’ as an indication of their declining fortunes. Only Debo and Jessica moved there with their parents; at the end of 1936 Pam married Derek Jackson with whom Debo, aged 15, imagined herself in love. But Jessica’s flight to Spain, which she kept a secret even from her youngest sister, was a body blow for Debo. This was something which Jessica never realised and it also meant that Debo was often alone with nanny and the governess at Old Mill Cottage, which she hated. The cruise on which Sydney had planned to take the three younger girls early in 1937, and to which Debo was looking forward, was inevitably cancelled; she was not allowed to go to Jessica’s wedding either and thereafter was only able to meet her occasionally because she and Esmond did not see eye to eye.
Added to this, as the decade progressed, the deterioration of relations between her parents became more obvious. Although both of them had at first been impressed by Hitler and what he was doing for Germany, David eventually did a U-turn and the Germans once more became ‘beastly Huns’ to him; Sydney meanwhile stuck to her guns. Like Pam, Debo was apolitical, but the atmosphere which her parents’ opposing views inevitably created rubbed off on her, the only child left at home. She deserved that fur coat.
It was not all misery for Debo, however, because in 1938, just after her debutante season had ended, she met and fell in love with Lord Andrew Cavendish, the younger son of the Duke of Devonshire, to whom she later became engaged.
The tragedies of the turbulent thirties were not yet over for the Redesdales. Unity had vowed to shoot herself if her two beloved countries, England and Germany, went to war with one another, though she felt that Hitler’s admiration for England meant he would never attack. There was great relief when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain came back from meeting Hitler in Munich in 1938, claiming that he had achieved Peace with Honour.
But Hitler had no intention of keeping his side of the agreement. In March 1939 he invaded Czechoslovakia and then, ignoring warnings from Britain, followed this with an invasion of Poland at the beginning of September. Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September. That same day, Unity went to the English Garden in Munich, took out her ivory-handled pistol and shot herself in the head.
Eight
Woman the Wife
D iana Mosley once remarked that Derek Jackson had been in love with most of the Mitfords, including Tom. He and Pam had first met at Biddesden while she was running the Guinnesses’ farm and it is possible that he chose her because she was the most readily available. In fact, it turned out to be one of the better choices he made in his private life. Her kind and calm nature combined with her housewifely skills made her the ideal wife for Derek at this most frenetic time of his career: he was at the cutting edge of the scientific world, had a particularly exacting role with the RAF during the war, to say nothing of his horse-racing exploits. Unlike Derek, Pam was neither clever, creative nor complex, but her lifelong friend, writer James Lees-Milne, paid tribute to her ‘nobility of character and
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