Priscilla Scott-Ellis
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Hon. Esyllt Priscilla "Pip" Scott-Ellis (15 November 1916 – 1983) was a British diarist. She was one of only two women who volunteered to be nurses for the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War.


Life

Ellis was born in Seaford House in Belgravia in 1916. She was the daughter of Margherita (born van Raalte) and Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden. She was educated at
Queen's College, London Queen's College is an independent school for girls aged 11–18 with an adjoining prep school for girls aged 4–11 located in the City of Westminster, London. Founded in 1848 by theologian and social reformer Frederick Denison Maurice along wit ...
, privately, at
Benenden School Benenden School is an independent boarding school for girls in Kent, England, in Hemsted Park at Benenden, between Cranbrook and Tenterden. Benenden has a boarding population of over 550 girls aged 11 to 18, as well as a limited number of day ...
and at a finishing school in Paris. Her siblings were Elisabeth Gwendolen (later Robinson) (1914-1976), Hon. Bronwen Mary (later Lindsay) (1912-2003) and John Osmael Scott-Ellis, 9th Baron Howard de Walden (1912-1999). It is said that her parents gave her only a small amount of their time and attention and she described as eager to please. She was obsessed with Prince Ataúlfo de Orleans who was a closet homosexual. He volunteered to be sent from Nazi Germany in the Condor Legion to support the Nationalist forces in Spain. Ellis wanted to be close to him. In 1937 she found out that her friend had volunteered to serve as a nurse to support the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. She decided that she would do the same and after basic training she was in Spain in October 1937. While she was working as a nurse she wrote a diary noting the wounds, the screaming and the casual approach to sterilisation. She met diplomat José Luis de Vilallonga y Cabeza de Vaca, 9th Marquess of Castellbell in January 1944 and they married at Sanlúcar de Barrameda on 20 September 1945. Her family did not approve and none of them could attend the wedding. Jose's father-in-law was so unimpressed by him that he had his will changed in the faint hope of protecting his daughter's inheritance. After their marriage her husband left the Spanish diplomatic service and they lived abroad. She married José Luis de Vilallonga y Cabeza de Vaca, 9th Marquess of Castellbell, on 27 September 1945 (''see''
Marquess of Castellbell Marquess of Castellbell ( es, Marqués de Castellbell) is a hereditary title in the Peerage of Spain accompanied by the dignity of Grandee, granted in 1702 by Philip V to José de Amat, a Catalan nobleman who was Lord of Castellbell. The fourth ...
). She married, secondly, Ian Hanson, a young opera singer from Manchester, in 1972


Death and legacy

Ellis died in 1983 in Los Angeles. Her diary which she had started to edit for publication in 1939 became ''The Chances of Death''. This book was published in 1995 after it was edited by the historian Sir Raymond Carr.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott-Ellis, Priscilla 1916 births 1983 deaths People from Belgravia Priscilla People educated at Queen's College, London 20th-century British diarists