Three Mitford Sisters in Swinbrook, Oxfordshire

The graves of three Mitford sisters in a row in Swinbrook, Oxfordshire, which was their family home.

 

'NANCY

MITFORD

Authoress

wife of

Peter Rodd

1904–1973'

 

Despite what the gravestone says, Nancy Mitford was divorced from Rodd in 1959. She was noted for her novels, particularly The Pursuit of Love (1945) and Love in a Cold Climate (1949). She also popularised the whimsical expressions 'U' and 'non-U' in an essay in Noblesse Oblige: An Enquiry Into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy (1956).

 

'UNITY VALKYRIE

MITFORD

Born 8th Aug 1914

Died 28th May 1948

Say not the struggle

naught availeth'

 

Now we come to the notorious two sisters. Unity Mitford is famous for her obsession with Adolf Hitler, for stalking him and greatly impressing him with her Ayrian looks (and her middle name).  And after Britain declared war on Germany she shot herself in the head, although it took nearly nine years for the bullet still lodged there to kill her.

 

'DIANA

MOSLEY

née

MITFORD

1910

2004'

 

Notorious for – among other things – leaving her husband Bryan Guinness for the fascist leader Oswald Mosley, having her second marriage at Goebbels's house with Hitler as guest of honour, etc. Some called her the most hated woman in the country: it wasn't exactly surprising that her appearance on Desert Island Discs in 1989 should have received so many complaints.