Nancy Mitford

Nancy Mitford (1904-1973), English writer, known primarily for her comedies of manners. Mitford was born in London. As the oldest child of the second Baron Redesdale, she moved in London society circles. Her father did not believe in formal education for girls, and so his six daughters were educated largely at home. The children were left on their own much of the time and developed their own entertainments. Many of their experiences appear in Mitford’s novels, as do her eccentric parents. Nancy’s sister, Jessica, also wrote about the Mitfords’ unconventional childhood in Hons and Rebels (1960, published in the United States as Daughters and Rebels).

In her novels of the 1930s Mitford wrote wittily about the bright young things of the time. She married Peter Rodd, the son of a British diplomat, but the marriage was unhappy and the two divorced in 1958. While Rodd was at the front during World War II (1939-1945), Mitford managed a London bookshop. After the war, she went to live in Paris, France.

Mitford satirized the British aristocracy in novels such as The Pursuit of Love (1945), about an upper-crust British family named Radlett, and Love in a Cold Climate (1949). The latter novel, as well as The Blessing (1951) and Don’t Tell Alfred (1960), are set in Paris, among British diplomatic circles. The novels are clever and light, though slightly malicious in tone. They might now seem written for the very social milieu that they mock were it not for the sophistication of their writing and the convincing characterizations of lords and ladies, many of whom were based on real people.

Mitford also wrote a number of well-received biographies, including Madame de Pompadour (1954), Voltaire in Love (1957), The Sun King (1966), and Frederick the Great (1970). She edited an anthology of essays about social class, Noblesse Oblige (1956), to which she also contributed. In her essay, she formulated the categories “U” and “non-U” to distinguish between language that was socially acceptable and language that was nonacceptable.

Perhaps reflecting their unconventional upbringing, Mitford’s sisters chose unusual paths as adults. Two of them—Diana and Unity—became fascists (see Fascism) before World War II. Diana Mitford married British fascist leader Oswald Mosley. Unity Mitford became a follower of Nazi (see National Socialism) leader Adolf Hitler and moved to Germany. She tried to kill herself after Germany and Britain went to war in 1939, but instead injured herself severely and remained an invalid until her death in 1948. Jessica Mitford, on the other hand, supported leftist causes and went to Spain to help the Republican side in their battle against fascism during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Deborah Mitford, the youngest sister, married the son of a duke and became the duchess of Devonshire. Pamela Mitford led the most conventional life; she married a physicist and lived in the English countryside. Nancy’s political sympathies were closer to Jessica’s than to any of her other sisters. The only Mitford brother, Tom, became a lawyer and died while fighting in Burma during World War II.