Evelyn Beatrice Sainte Croix Fleming, Rose, known as Eve Fleming (10 January 1885 – 27 July 1964), was an English

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having tradit ...

known for her flamboyant beauty and being the mother of

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

writer

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., an ...

Life

Born in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...

, London, Eve was the daughter of George Alfred Sainte Croix Rose (31 January 1854 – 14 February 1926), a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the service of the Royal Buckinghamshire Militia (King's Own) and

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or '' puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the s ...

(J.P.) for

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

, son of the 1st Baronet Rose, of Rayners, by his marriage on 8 April 1880 to Beatrice Quain (1857 – 4 January 1911), the daughter of Sir Richard Quain, 1st Baronet, graduated with a

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...

(M.B.). On 15 February 1906 she married

Valentine Fleming Major Valentine Fleming (17 February 1882 – 20 May 1917) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament who was killed in World War I. He was the father of authors Peter Fleming and Ian Fleming, the latter of whom created the James Bond c ...

(17 February 1882 – 20 May 1917), and by that marriage was the mother of four sons: Peter Fleming,

– author of the

books, Richard Fleming and Michael Fleming. Eve was also the grandmother of actress

Lucy Fleming Eve Lucinda "Lucy" Fleming (born 15 May 1947) is a British actress. Biography Early life and ancestry Fleming was born in Nettlebed, England. She is the second daughter of actress Celia Johnson and writer Peter Fleming (brother of James Bon ...

. After her husband's death in action during World War I, Eve Fleming inherited his large estate in trust, making her very wealthy. However, the conditions of the money in trust transferred it to others should she ever remarry. She became the mistress of painter

Augustus John Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarge ...

, with whom she had a daughter, the cellist

Amaryllis Fleming Amaryllis Marie-Louise Fleming (10 December 1925 – 27 July 1999) was a British cello performer and teacher. Early life and education Fleming was born in 1925, reportedly in Switzerland.G. R. Seaman, 'Fleming, Amaryllis Marie-Louise (1925? ...

, and later lived with the Marquess of Winchester until his death. During the 1940s and 1950s, she resided at

The Abbey, Sutton Courtenay The Abbey in Sutton Courtenay is a medieval courtyard house in the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly Berkshire). It is located in the Vale of White Horse near the River Thames, across the road from the twelfth-century Norman Hall and the ...

. She died only two weeks before the death of her son Ian on 12 August 1964.

In popular culture

Eve Fleming's nickname from her son Ian was M and Ian may have used his relationship with her as model for M, fictional head of Head of the

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intellige ...

and James Bond's boss.

References

Notes Bibliography * Lycett, Andrew
'Fleming, Ian Lancaster (1908–1964)'
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2008. 1885 births 1964 deaths Evelyn John family {{England-bio-stub