Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly (13 November 1913 – 11 February 2001; née Llewellyn) was a British author and aristocrat who is best known for her war memoir '' To War With Whitaker: The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly, 1939–1945''.

Childhood

Hermione Llewellyn was born in Postlip,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, into a wealthy family of Welsh origin. She had an older brother, Griffith ''Owen'' (1912–1933), and two sisters, Cynthia (born 1916) and Daphne (born 1922); "I started life as a disappointment – because I wasn't a boy", she recalled. "I continued being a disappointment – because I was ugly. Instead of minding, I determined to ride better, run faster, be funnier and give more generous presents than the rest of the family." Their father, Griffith Robert Poyntz Llewellyn, was dashing, popular and extravagant; his lack of caution was to have disastrous consequences, and he lost the family fortune on horses and houses when Hermione was thirteen. "We became poor very quickly", she reported. Their mother, Emily ''Constance'' (née Elwes), became mentally ill during Hermione's childhood and was diagnosed with manic-depression. The family accompanied her to Switzerland for treatment. There was further family tragedy with Owen's death in an air crash. She completed her education at

Southover Manor School Southover Manor School was a private boarding school for girls at Lewes, East Sussex, with a preparatory department. History The school was founded in 1924 at Lewes by Winifred Ponsonby. Initially a convent school, it was based at Southover Ma ...

, in Sussex.

Career

In 1930 and impoverished, a 17-year-old Hermione moved to London to look for a job. As she noted, she was "ill-prepared for life beyond the bounds of a country estate", and had no qualifications except "good English and good manners." It was the height of the Depression, and there were few available openings, but she managed to obtain a job selling gas appliances for the

Gas Light and Coke Company The Gas Light and Coke Company (also known as the Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company, and the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company), was a company that made and supplied coal gas and coke. The headquarters of the company were located on Ho ...

. She had scarcely ever been in a kitchen, and had difficulty giving personal advice to customers. Nevertheless, she became a successful saleswoman and wrote that "people seemed to like it when I said: 'Always buy a gas cooker with a large oven, then you can commit suicide with your husband'". Hermione took a secretarial course and subsequently found employment in a

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

typing pool A secretarial pool or typing pool is a group of secretaries working at a company available to assist any executive without a permanently assigned secretary. These groups have been reduced or eliminated where executives have been assigned responsibil ...

. She remained short of money, and though invited to balls and for weekends at country houses, she had to decline, as she could not afford to buy the necessary clothes. In 1937, Hermione went to Australia as secretary to

Lord Wakehurst Baron Wakehurst, of Ardingly in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 29 June 1934 for the Conservative politician Gerald Loder, fifth son of Sir Robert Loder, 1st Baronet (see Loder Baronets ...

who had been appointed as Governor of New South Wales. On a visit to Canberra, she met

Daniel Knox, 6th Earl of Ranfurly Thomas Daniel Knox, 6th Earl of Ranfurly (29 May 1914 – 6 November 1988), known as Dan Ranfurly, was a British Army officer and farmer, who served as Governor of the Bahamas. His exploits in the Second World War, along with those of his wife ...

, who was aide-de-camp to the

Australian Governor-General The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.Sporting Life''; the two immediately became engaged, and were married on 17 January 1939.

Second World War

The Ranfurlys were on a

stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...

holiday in Scotland when the news came that

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

had invaded Poland. Cutting short their trip, they returned to London, where a telegram awaited them from Dan's

Yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Army Reserve, descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Today, Yeomanry units serve in a variety of different military roles. History Origins In the 1790s, f ...

regiment, the Sherwood Rangers, telling him to report to duty in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

. Dan turned to their portly cook-butler, Whitaker, and asked if he was coming too. Hermione recorded that "Whitaker sat there looking fat and rather red, and he said, 'To the war my Lord?' and Dan said 'Yes'. And Whitaker said: 'Very good, my Lord,' as though Dan had asked for a cup of coffee." The exchange was to provide the title of Lady Ranfurly's war diaries, which proved to be an unexpected publishing success in the 1990s. On their first wedding anniversary, Lord Ranfurly left with the Sherwood Rangers for a posting to British-controlled Palestine. Regulations barred wives of the Yeomanry from joining their husbands at the front. However, Hermione ignored the rules, and in February 1940 managed to obtain a passage to Egypt from a shady London travel agent, arriving in Palestine two weeks later. Hermione thought that with her secretarial skills, she would easily find a job in the Middle East. It proved more difficult than expected, and in September 1940 a one-eyed brigadier ordered her forcible repatriation to Britain with other "illegal wives". Determined not to be separated from her husband, she jumped ship from the RMS ''Empress of Britain'' at

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, and succeeded in obtaining an aeroplane ticket back to Egypt by implying to a travel agent that she was a spy on a secret mission. The ''Empress of Britain'' was sunk shortly after. On arrival in Cairo, Lady Ranfurly lay low in the flat of her friends

Pamela Pamela may refer to: *''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'', a novel written by Samuel Richardson in 1740 *Pamela (name), a given name and, rarely, a surname * Pamela Spence, a Turkish pop-rock singer. Known as her stage name "Pamela" * MSC ''Pamela'', ...

and

Patrick Hore-Ruthven The Hon. Alexander Hardinge Patrick Hore-Ruthven (30 August 1913 – 24 December 1942) was a British soldier and poet. He was born in Quetta, British India (present-day Pakistan), the sole surviving child of Alexander Hore-Ruthven and Zara Eil ...

, but gradually her return became known. Her actions infuriated the British military authorities, which made finding a job difficult. However, her secretarial skills were in short supply and she was soon recruited to work for the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

office in Cairo. Despite continued opposition from the Army, who failed in an attempt to have British ambassador Sir

Miles Lampson Miles Wedderburn Lampson, 1st Baron Killearn, (24 August 1880 – 18 September 1964) was a British diplomat. Background and education Miles Lampson was the son of Norman Lampson, and grandson of Sir Curtis Lampson, 1st Baronet. His mother ...

remove her passport, she became the highly efficient secretary to George Pollock, the head of the SOE. At first pleased with her job, she quickly became concerned about the SOE's actions, intentions, and dubious security and finances, and considered that the organisation was working "across, if not against, the war effort". In March 1941, she expressed her concerns to the visiting Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and in May to General Wavell, the Commander-in-Chief for the Middle East. Wavell could take no direct action since SOE did not come under the War Office, but sharing her concerns, he asked her to pass on any documents that aroused her suspicion. She achieved this by stealing questionable documents from the office each evening, typing a copy of them and then returning the originals to their positions the next morning. Her subterfuge led directly to a major reorganisation of SOE Cairo in the summer of 1941. In April 1941, Dan Ranfurly was reported missing after the Battle of Tobruk, and Hermione had no knowledge about whether he was living or dead until she received a letter from him five months later. He remained a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

in Italy for three years, escaping in 1944 following the Italian armistice. In the interim, Lady Ranfurly received special permission to remain in the Middle East from General Wavell, and worked first as a personal assistant to Sir

Harold MacMichael Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael (15 October 1882 – 19 September 1969) was a British colonial administrator who served as High Commissioner for Palestine. Early service Educated at Bedford School, MacMichael graduated with a first from Magdalene ...

, the High Commissioner in Palestine, and later to General

Henry Maitland Wilson Field Marshal Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron Wilson, (5 September 1881 – 31 December 1964), also known as Jumbo Wilson, was a senior British Army officer of the 20th century. He saw active service in the Second Boer War and then during the ...

, the Supreme Allied commander in the Mediterranean. She was renowned for the tenacity of her desire not to return to England, and General Wilson described Hermione as having "outmanoeuvred every general in the Middle East" to achieve her goal.Ranfurly (1994), p. 103 Between 1941 and 1944, Hermione Ranfurly lived in Cairo,

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

and Algiers, and met many of famous names who passed through the region, including

Lady Diana Cooper Diana, Viscountess Norwich (née Lady Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners; 29 August 1892 – 16 June 1986) was an English actress and aristocrat who was a well-known social figure in London and Paris. As a young woman, she moved in a celebrat ...

, Antoine de Saint Exupéry, Sir

Walter Monckton Walter Turner Monckton, 1st Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, (17 January 1891 – 9 January 1965) was a British lawyer and politician. Early years Monckton was born in the village of Plaxtol in north Kent. He was the eldest child of paper m ...

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 fiction ...

, and Noël Coward. She shared a house in Baghdad with

Freya Stark Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 18939 May 1993), was a British-Italian explorer and travel writer. She wrote more than two dozen books on her travels in the Middle East and Afghanistan as well as several autobiographical works and essays ...

, took General

George S. Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

shopping in Cairo, dined with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in Algiers, and helped fix General Bernard Montgomery's beret, though she did not think much of the "corny Englishman" complaining that he "would drop his macintosh on the floor and then shout at someone to pick it up." She dined with kings: Peter II of Yugoslavia,

Farouk of Egypt Farouk I (; ar, فاروق الأول ''Fārūq al-Awwal''; 11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965) was the tenth ruler of Egypt from the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the penultimate King of Egypt and the Sudan, succeeding his father, Fuad I, in 1 ...

and the future

Paul of Greece Paul ( el, Παύλος, ''Pávlos''; 14 December 1901 – 6 March 1964) was King of Greece from 1 April 1947 until his death in 1964. He was succeeded by his son, Constantine II. Paul was first cousin to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh an ...

. She befriended a number of intelligence and Special Air Service officers, including Orde Wingate, Fitzroy Maclean,

David Stirling Sir Archibald David Stirling (15 November 1915 – 4 November 1990) was a Scottish officer in the British army, a mountaineer, and the founder and creator of the Special Air Service (SAS). He saw active service during the Second World War. ...

and

Bill Stirling William Stuart Stirling (19 March 1891 – 18 July 1971) was an Australian cricketer active from 1908 to 1921 who played for South Australia and the Australian Imperial Force Touring XI. He was born in Jamestown, South Australia and died in Ade ...

, and was taught to shoot by a mysterious red-faced man called "Abercrombie" so as to be able to do her part against the Germans. By the end of the war, she likely knew more secrets than any other civilian in the area. Dan Ranfurly was reunited with his wife in Algiers in May 1944, and after a brief trip to England, Hermione resumed her work as secretary to General Wilson in Algiers and Caserta, Italy, while her husband joined Fitzroy Maclean's liaison mission to

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. Hermione was well-positioned for more noteworthy encounters: she taught Admiral

Henry Kent Hewitt Henry Kent Hewitt (February 11, 1887 – September 15, 1972) was the United States Navy commander of amphibious operations in north Africa and southern Europe through World War II. He was born in Hackensack, New Jersey and graduated from the Unit ...

to dance the Boomps-a-Daisy, and received Marshal Josip Broz Tito for tea: "he was short and stocky and dressed to kill" according to the hostess. In November 1944, Hermione Ranfurly accepted General Wilson's request that she continue as his secretary when he moved to Washington, D.C. to be head of the

British Joint Staff Mission British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. He rescinded his offer at the last moment, leaving Hermione without a job, luggage or reference. With Dan Ranfurly in Rome, she managed to find a job working for Air Marshal

John Slessor Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir John Cotesworth Slessor, (3 June 1897 – 12 July 1979) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force (RAF), serving as Chief of the Air Staff from 1950 to 1952. As a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps du ...

, first in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and later in London, where she celebrated

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

by emptying five wastepaper baskets of Slessor's "more boring papers" out of the window.

Post war

At the end of the war, Dan Ranfurly obtained a job in insurance at

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...

, and later farmed in Buckinghamshire, while Hermione attempted to put her wartime letters and diaries in order while seated on the sitting room floor. The writer Peter Fleming, an old friend, arranged for her to get a contract for their publication; however, Hermione got cold feet, and repaid the advance nine days later. A daughter, Lady Caroline, was born in 1948. On 20 October 1953, Lord Ranfurly was appointed

Governor of the Bahamas This is a list of governors of the Bahamas. The first English settlement in the Bahamas was on Eleuthera. In 1670, the king granted the Bahamas to the lords proprietors of the Province of Carolina, but the islands were left to themselves. The lo ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

. Hermione took a great interest in all aspects of Bahamian life, and was concerned by the lack of books in libraries and schools. She asked friends to send unwanted volumes, a project that was to become the Ranfurly Library Service in

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

. The couple also founded a children's home. When the Ranfurlys returned to the United Kingdom in 1957, Lady Ranfurly extended the Ranfurly Library Service project to other developing countries short on English books; the organisation later changed its name to

Book Aid International Book Aid International is a UK registered charity which provides books and supports libraries in Africa and around the world. Every year the charity sends books to public and community libraries as well as libraries in prisons, refugee camps, hospi ...

. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1970

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

. Lord Ranfurly died of cancer in 1988, and the Countess continued to work her diaries in Buckinghamshire. Her old friend and neighbour Lord Carrington read her work, and with his help ''To War With Whitaker'' was published in 1994. The diaries were an immediate success, and one reviewer noted that they offered "a madcap, aristocratic window behind the lines of war". Encouraged by its success, she published a memoir of her childhood, ''The Ugly One'', in 1998. Lady Ranfurly enjoyed her old age, noting "you have so many more memories than when you are young". She died at her home in Buckinghamshire on 11 February 2001 at the age of 87.

Works

*''To War With Whitaker: The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly, 1939–1945'' (1994) *''The Ugly One: The Childhood Memoirs of Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly, 1913–1939'' (1998)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranfurly, Hermione, Countess Of 1913 births 2001 deaths 20th-century British writers People educated at Southover Manor School Officers of the Order of the British Empire English diarists 20th-century diarists British expatriates in Australia British expatriates in Egypt British expatriates in the Bahamas Irish countesses