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Mitford Sisters
The Mitford family is an aristocratic English family, whose principal line had its seats at Mitford, Northumberland. Several heads of the family served as High Sheriff of Northumberland. A junior line, with seats at Newton Park, Northumberland, and Exbury House, Hampshire, descends via the historian William Mitford (1744–1827) and were twice elevated to the British peerage, in 1802 and 1902, under the title Baron Redesdale. The family became particularly known in the 1930s and later for the six Mitford sisters, great-great-great-granddaughters of William Mitford, and the daughters of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, and his wife Sydney Bowles. They were celebrated and at times scandalous figures, who were described by ''The Times'' journalist Ben Macintyre as " Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the Novelist; Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur".
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Mitford Family
The Mitford family is an aristocratic English family, whose principal line had its seats at Mitford, Northumberland. Several heads of the family served as High Sheriff of Northumberland. A junior line, with seats at Newton Park, Northumberland, and Exbury House, Hampshire, descends via the historian William Mitford (1744–1827) and were twice elevated to the British peerage, in 1802 and 1902, under the title Baron Redesdale. The family became particularly known in the 1930s and later for the six Mitford sisters, great-great-great-granddaughters of William Mitford, and the daughters of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, and his wife Sydney Bowles. They were celebrated and at times scandalous figures, who were described by ''The Times'' journalist Ben Macintyre as " Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the Novelist; Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur".
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Deborah Cavendish, Duchess Of Devonshire
Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, (born Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford and latterly Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire; 31 March 1920 – 24 September 2014) was an English aristocrat, writer, memoirist, and socialite. She was the youngest and last-surviving of the six Mitford sisters, who were prominent members of British society in the 1930s and 1940s. Life Known to her family as "Debo", Deborah Mitford was born in Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire, England. Her parents were David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale (1878–1958), son of Algernon Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, and his wife, Sydney (1880–1963), daughter of Thomas Gibson Bowles, MP. She married Lord Andrew Cavendish, younger son of the 10th Duke of Devonshire, in 1941. When Cavendish's older brother, William, Marquess of Hartington, was killed in action in 1944, Cavendish became heir to the dukedom and began to use the courtesy title Marquess of Hartington. In 1950, on the death o ...
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John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, helping to save St Pancras railway station from demolition. He began his career as a journalist and ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate and a much-loved figure on British television. Life Early life and education Betjeman was born John Betjemann. He was the son of a prosperous silverware maker of Dutch descent. His parents, Mabel (''née'' Dawson) and Ernest Betjemann, had a family firm at 34–42 Pentonville Road which manufactured the kind of ornamental household furniture and gadgets distinctive to Victorians. During the First World War the family name was changed to the less German-looking Betjeman. His father's forebears had actually come from the present day Netherlands more than a century earlier, setting ...
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Sun King
, house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France , burial_date = 9 September 1715 , burial_place = Basilica of Saint-Denis , religion = Catholicism ( Gallican Rite) , signature = Louis XIV Signature.svg Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign in history whose date is verifiable. Although Louis XIV's France was emblematic of the age of absolutism in Europe, the King surrounded himself with a variety of significant political, military, and cultural figures, such as Bossuet, Colbert, Le Brun, Le Nôtre, Lully, Mazarin, Molière, Racine, Ture ...
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Love In A Cold Climate
''Love in a Cold Climate'' is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1949. The title is a phrase from George Orwell's novel ''Keep the Aspidistra Flying'' (1936). ''Love in a Cold Climate'' is a companion volume to ''The Pursuit of Love''. The time frame of ''Love in a Cold Climate'' is the same as ''The Pursuit of Love'', but the focus is on a different set of characters. Fanny remains the fictional narrator. In ''The Pursuit of Love'', Fanny narrates the story of her cousin Linda Radlett. In ''Love in a Cold Climate'', Fanny narrates the story of Polly, to whom Fanny is distantly related through her father's family. Synopsis Lady Leopoldina "Polly" Hampton is the only child of the supremely aristocratic and very rich Earl of Montdore and his wife, Sonia. Lady Montdore is a product of the minor ranks of the aristocracy and her marriage to an earl is regarded as a social coup on her part. She is depicted by Fanny as an avaricious, greedy snob, but not without charm. Her ...
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The Pursuit Of Love
''The Pursuit of Love'' is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1945. It is the first in a trilogy about an upper-class English family in the interwar period focusing on the romantic life of Linda Radlett, as narrated by her cousin, Fanny Logan. Although a comedy, the story has tragic overtones. The book was an immediate best-seller and sold 200,000 copies within a year of publication. Mitford wrote two sequels to the novel, ''Love in a Cold Climate'' (1949) and ''Don't Tell Alfred'' (1960). Her penultimate novel, '' The Blessing'' (1951), also makes references to ''The Pursuit of Love'' and characters from ''The Blessing'' later appear in ''Don't Tell Alfred''. Plot summary The narrator is Fanny, whose mother (called the "Bolter" for her habit of serial monogamy) and father have left her to be brought up by her aunt Emily and the valetudinarian Davey, whom Emily marries early in the novel. Fanny also spends holidays with her uncle, Matthew Radlett, her aunt, Sadie a ...
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Gaston Palewski
Gaston Palewski (20 March 1901 – 3 September 1984), French politician, was a close associate of Charles de Gaulle during and after World War II. He is also remembered as the lover of the English novelist Nancy Mitford, and appears in a fictionalised form in two of her novels. Biography Palewski was born in Paris into a Jewish family, the son of an industrialist Maurice Serge Moïse Herch Palewski (b. 1867 in Kobryń, then in Russian Empire, now in Belarus - d. 1938) and his wife Rose née Diamant-Berger (b. 1869 in Buzău, Romania - d. 1954). Gaston Palewski was educated at the Sorbonne, at the École Libre des Sciences Politiques and at Oxford University—he spoke excellent English and was a convinced Anglophile. Using family connections, he obtained a post with Marshal Hubert Lyautey, the French Resident-General in Morocco. In 1928 he became principal private secretary to Paul Reynaud, a leading politician who was then Minister for Finances and who became Prime Minister ...
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Mitford Hall
Mitford Hall is a Georgian mansion house and Grade II* listed building standing in its own park overlooking the River Wansbeck at Mitford, Northumberland. It was built in 1828 by the Mitford family to a design by architect John Dobson, to replace their old home, Mitford Old Manor House, on the opposite side of the river. Since 1993 it has been owned by Shepherd Offshore, the Shepherd family business run by Bruce and Freddy Shepherd Freddy Shepherd (29 October 1941 – 25 September 2017) was an English businessman and the chairman of Newcastle United football club from 1997 until 2007. During his time at Newcastle, both as an active assistant to and later replacement of .... References External linksKeys to the Past

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Mitford Old Manor House
Mitford Old Manor House is an historic English manor house at Mitford, Northumberland and is a Grade II* listed building. The Manor of Mitford was held from ancient times by the Mitford family. The Manor House previously stood, adjacent to the old church of St Mary Magdalene, on the eastern side of the River Wansbeck. The substantial ruins now standing on the site represent the remains of a 16th-century house and of a porch tower built in about 1637. The original house was substantially demolished and rebuilt in about 1810, then abandoned by the Mitfords when they built a new mansion house, Mitford Hall, and park on the opposite bank of the river in 1828. In about 1960 a modern house was created out of the kitchen wing. History An early description of the ruin was given in about 1824 by Eneas Mackenzie who said that the greater part of the building had been taken down about 12 years ago by Bertram Mitford (1777-1842) who was intending to build a new house across the river. Thi ...
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Mitford Castle
Mitford Castle is an English castle dating from the end of the 11th century and located at Mitford, Northumberland. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building, enlisted on 20 October 1969. The castle is also officially on the Buildings at Risk Register. The Norman motte and bailey castle stands on a small prominence, a somewhat elliptical mound, above the River Wansbeck. The selected building site allowed for the natural hill to be scarped and ditched, producing the motte. Mitford Castle was the first of three seats for the main line of the Mitford family constructed on manor lands. Following the destruction of Mitford Castle, Mitford Old Manor House (nearby and to the northwest) was used from the 16th century until the construction of Mitford Hall in 1828. Mitford Hall stands in an park to the west of the castle ruins. History Prior to the 1066 Norman conquest, the castle was held by Sir John de Mitford, whose only daughter and heiress, Sybilla Mitford, ...
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Family Seat
A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families took their dynasty name from their family seat (Habsburg, Hohenzollern, and Windsor), or named their family seat after their own dynasty's name. The term ''family seat'' was first recorded in the 11th century Domesday Book where it was listed as the word ''caput''. The term continues to be used in the British Isles today. A clan seat refers to the seat of the chief of a Scottish clan. Examples *List of family seats of English nobility *List of family seats of Irish nobility *List of family seats of Scottish nobility *List of family seats of Welsh nobility This is an incomplete list of Welsh titled gentry family seats. :''See also Welsh peers and baronets This is an index of Welsh peers and baronets whose primary peerage, life p ...
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Redesdale
Redesdale is a valley in western Northumberland, England. It is formed by the River Rede, which rises in the Cheviots and flows down to join the North Tyne at Redesmouth. Redesdale is traversed by the A68 trunk road, which enters Scotland via Carter Bar at the head of the valley. Redesdale contains the settlements of Elsdon, Otterburn, Rochester, and Byrness. Otterburn is the site of a British Army installation, Otterburn Training Area. A portion of Redesdale to the west and north of Otterburn forms part of Northumberland National Park and includes the Redesdale Forest, the northernmost part of Kielder Forest. History This valley has historically served as an important route into Scotland, and has seen conflict since the time of the Roman Empire. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, the Norman noble family Umfraville gained lands in the area and were the first ''Lords of Redesdale''. In 1388, Otterburn was the site of a historic battle between armies from the kingdoms of ...
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