Biography of Unity Valkyrie Mitford 1914-1948

In February 1904 [her father] David Freeman-Mitford 2nd Baron Redesdale [aged 25] and [her mother] Sydney Bowles Baroness Redesdale [aged 24] were married.

On 8th August 1914 Unity Valkyrie Mitford was born to [her father] David Freeman-Mitford 2nd Baron Redesdale [aged 36] and [her mother] Sydney Bowles Baroness Redesdale [aged 34].

On 17th August 1916 [her grandfather] Algernon Freeman-Mitford 1st Baron Redesdale [aged 79] died. His son [her father] David [aged 38] succeeded 2nd Baron Redesdale of Redesdale in Northumberland. [her mother] Sydney Bowles Baroness Redesdale [aged 36] by marriage Baroness Redesdale of Redesdale in Northumberland.

6th February 1929. The Sketch. The marriage of Mr. Bryan Guinness [aged 23], son of the Hon. Walter Guinness, to the Hon. Diana Mitford [aged 18], third daughter of Lord and Lady Redesdale, was solemnised at St. Margaret's, Westminster [Map]. The lovely nineteen-year-old bride was attended by eleven bridesmaids.

Note. Her sisters Nancy [aged 24] and Unity [aged 14] were two of the eleven bridesmaid. Her younger sisters Jessica Lucy Freeman-Mitford [aged 11] and Deborah Vivien Mitford Duchess Devonshire [aged 8] were unwell but threw rice as her car passed.

6th January 1932. The Sketch. Photograph of sisters Nancy Mitford [aged 27], Unity Valkyrie Mitford [aged 17], Jessica Lucy Freeman-Mitford [aged 14] and Diana Mitford [aged 21].

11th September 1935. Daily Mirror. 'Daughter [Unity Valkyrie Mitford [aged 21]] of Peer Nazi Guest of Honour.'

On 18th May 1937 Esmond Romilly [aged 18] and [her sister] Jessica Lucy Freeman-Mitford [aged 19] were married in a civil ceremony in Bayonne. Both mothers, Sydney Bowles Baroness Redesdale [aged 57] and Nellie Hozier [aged 49] attended the ceremony. They were second cousins.

5th April 1939. Tatler. Unity Mitford [aged 24] (centre), pictured 15 months after returning to England.

1st December 1939. Daily Mirror. Miss Unity Mitford [aged 25], pro-Hitler daughter of Lord Redesdale, has been shot by the Gestapo, according to reports from Paris. It is stated that she demanded to return to England after stormy scenes with Hitler, and that the German secret police feared she might 'talk.' Hitler, says the reports, had told her many secrets, but after war began she began to lose her admiration for him. Himmler and his Gestapo hated her. They envied her influence with the Fuehrer. Whether Hitler knew of her execution, or even gave the order for it, may be a secret forever, the reports declare.

2nd January 1940. Daily Mirror. the 'Hitler-admiring daughter [aged 25] of Lord Redesdale, is expected back in England today.'

On 19th April 1941 [her brother-in-law] Andrew Cavendish 11th Duke Devonshire [aged 21] and [her sister] Deborah Mitford [aged 21] were married. He the son of Edward William Spencer Cavendish 10th Duke Devonshire [aged 45] and Mary Alice Gascoyne-Cecil Duchess Devonshire [aged 45].

At the commencement of their honeymoon Deborah 'stopped the car when starting on her honeymoon and registered at a small Labour Exchange for National Service,' as per The Sketch.

Before 31st August 1945. William Acton [aged 39]. Portrait of Unity Valkyrie Mitford [aged 31].

On 28th May 1948 Unity Valkyrie Mitford [aged 33] died of meningitis caused by the cerebral swelling around the bullet that had lodged in her brain after she had shot herself in December 1939.