The Mitford Girls

Im reading a biography of the Mitford family, by Mary S Lovell. I find myself unable to like it very much. It is well written but I find that there is a little too much sympathy for the fascist members of the family, particularly Diana Mosley. David Freeman-Mitford, father of the family, was eccentric and right wing. He had a hot temper and was difficult to live with. He married Sydney Bowles. His wife was a cool but gentle woman, who seems to have married for security but they were relatively poor by aristocratic standards. David was a younger son, and his father in law got him a job as editor to a magazine when he got married, so as to provide a bigger income. David was not much of a reader, so it was an odd choice of career. David's older brother was killed in World War One, and left only 2 daughters, so he became the heir to the title and estates. With 7 children, money was tight by upper class standards. Nancy was the eldest of the family which consisted of 6 daughters and 1 son, Tom. In the 1920s and 30s, as the children grew up, quite a few of them seemed to veer toward the right, in politics. While I like Nancy, who was a mild liberal who became rather more conservative, as she grew older, I find the family's political leanings unnerving. Even Nancy, though she was anti Fascist, was inclined to tolerate her siblings' right wing views, perhaps to avoid family rows. But she did speak to the British authorities when World War Two broke out, and advised them that Diana was overly sympathetic to the Nazis. As a result, Diana, who had just had a baby, was imprisoned with her husband under wartime laws for her alleged Nazi leanings, even though Mosley had told his followers to fight for Britain once they were at war. Unity the second youngest girl was not just right wing but unstable. She went to Germany to study and became obsessed with Hitler and supported his anti Semitic policies. When war broke out, she shot herself because she was upset that her country, and Germany which she loved, were fighting. Tom, the only boy, also "liked Germans" and did not want to fight them. He joined up but managed to get posted to fight against Japan. He was killed in the later stages of the war. Jessica ( called Decca) was a non fascist, she was sympathetic to the Communist party. She ran away and married a nephew of Churchill's wife, Esmond Romilly... who was an upper class Communist. Nancy disliked him, as she felt he was nasty and unpleasant, and that he had led Jessica into rebellion against her family and a difficult life. Jessica and Esmond were very poor after their marriage and lived in Rotherhithe, a working class district, near the docks. They had a daughter, Julia, who caught measles as when only a few months old. The child died, and the couple were devastated. However, their very loud pro Communist activities provoked their upper class relatives and friends to be hostile to them. In the beginning of their marriage, if they visited relatives, they stole small items from their houses, on the grounds that the upper class did not need the things. Jessica did repent to some extent of her Communist views in later life, whereas Diana was ambivalent about her pro Fascist viewpoint. Jessica and Esmond went to the US and when War broke out, he joined up. They had another daughter, Constantia, but Esmond was killed. Jessica remained in the US and married a Jewish left wing lawyer, Bob Truehaft. She and he had 2 more children and pursued left wing causes, as journalists and activists. But Jessica never made up with her sister Diana. I hope to write a bit more later.

Yeats and Marriage

In 1913, Yeats was feeling hostile to the Irish middle classes partly due to their lack of sympathy for the poor, in the Dublin Strike. But a few years later, he was shocked by the Easter Rising, which was led by Irish middle class nationalists who rose up and tried to fight against the British, while they were engaged in World War I with Germany. The British savagely repressed the Rising and swiftly executed most of the leaders. Even Irish people who had not supported the Rebellion were shaken by the brutal response of the Government, and sympathised with the men who had gone out to die. Yeats wrote poems where he admitted that he had not realised how passionate the Irish were about their freedom. He felt that the dull, bourgeois city of Dublin had been transformed and that a "Terrible Beauty" had been born. Maud Gonne had married an Irishman, John MacBride, and the marriage had failed within a couple of years. But now, her husband had been shot. Yeats began to consider getting married, as he was getting older and had no children. He fell in love with Georgina Hyde Lees, a much younger Englishwoman. He had met Georgie, as she was called, in 1910, through his mistress and friend Olivia Shakespear. Several years later, in 1917, he asked her to marry him. She agreed. Their marriage had its difficulties at times. Yeats had not started his sex life early... he had been a shy romantic minded young man who did not lose his virginity until he was older. But over the years he had had romances and affairs and Georgie felt unhappy about the women in his life. She and Yeats had a son, Michael and a daughter Anne. Yeats became a Senator in the Irish Free State and continued to write. Georgie grew to tolerate his mistresses, as looking after Yeats, an older man, in poor health who was demanding, wore her out. She was rather glad to let other women share in the task of looking after the great poet.

David Allan Coe

Coe died a month ago, at the age of 86. He was born in Ohio in 1939. He was a member of the Outlaw country movement and a talented song writer. He was in and out of trouble as a young man, in correctional institutions and prison. But he sometimes exaggerated the crimes he had committed. He claimed that he had been in prison for murder but this was untrue. He had several problems with the IRS, but he had a successful career. Some of his big hits were Long Haired Redneck, which is about balancing between being a country singer and a rebel. Another is The Ride, about the Ghost of Hank WIlliams.

Pin to See the Peepshow V

Julia is hardly able to take it in that she is to be executed. Leo is to be hanged on the same day. She cracks up badly, and has to be given sedatives. She realises that her affair with Leo never really meant anything. He had been fond of her but there was no substance to the relationship. She does not seem to feel much remorse for Herbert's death. However her execution is unfair in that she did not take part in killing him. But her foolish letters did give the impression that she was eager to get rid of her husband, and as such an accessory to the murder. I dont know if I like the book very much. Julia is not all that likable, and while one feels sorry for her, I feel that Jesse excused her rather too much.

Emily

Due to illness, Im not working on my Emily Bronte Story. But I hope to get back to it soon

Pin to See the Peepshow IV

Julia finally realises that Herbert is dead and that Leo killed him. She is then questioned by the police. She tries to shield Leo, but it is pretty clear that he was the killer. But she is considered to be the one who incited him to kill her husband. She has some well to do friends, such as her employers at the dress shop, who support her, and pay for a lawyer, but at the trial, things go against her. Leo is obviously guilty. But Julia did not know he would try and kill Herbert. Leo says himself that he never took seriously Julia's letters where she claimed she was trying to kill her husband. He knew that she was just exaggerating and saying silly things to get his attention. She insists on going into the box, which her barrister advises against. Unfortunately her performance there shows her as inconsistent and often telling lies. She and Leo are both found guilty.

Emily - a Story of the Brontes Part IV

Emily hated talking to people, so she tried to ignore him, but he coughed and said "I hope I don't disturb you, Miss." She mumbled something and went to the bookshelves in search of some more of Byron's poetry. "Do you like to read then?" he said, in a voice that had a Yorkshire accent. He clearly was not a close friend of the Heaton family, but he was not a servant, either. She didn't reply. She hastily took some books from the shelf and scurried out of the room. In the hallway, one of the maids was polishing a table. "Are you leaving then, Miss Emily? I hope you found some books." "Yes, I did," she replied gruffly. "It's a long walk for you, would you like a cup of tea before you go, Miss?" Emily shook her head and hurried to the door. She walked back faster than she had ever done before. It alarmed her to have to talk to people, though she knew the maid well enough, after the girl had been working in the house for a year. She wondered who the young man was. She had never seen him before. He was clearly from Yorkshire but did he come from the Haworth area? She felt a twinge of curiosity. If he were a local lad, she would have seen him at church or in the village. She liked at times to talk to Tabby of the local people, and their histories. Tabby had known the village for a lifetime, and could tell stories of the farmers who lived in isolated places and their feuds and quarrels. She liked tales of conflict.