The Mitford family is a minor aristocratic English family that traces its origins in Northumberland back to the time of the Norman conquest. In the Middle Ages they had been Border Reivers based in Redesdale. The main family line had seats at Mitford Castle, Mitford Old Manor House and from 1828 the then-newly-built Mitford Hall. 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 to his great-great-great-granddaughters, the "Mitford sisters". The Mitford family was twice elevated to the British peerage, in 1802 and 1902, under the title Baron Redesdale.
In the 20th century, the "Mitford sisters" — six daughters of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale and Sydney Bowles — became celebrated, and at times scandalous, figures caricatured, according to 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".
Read more about Mitford Family: The Mitford Siblings, Mitford Sisters, Thumbnail Biographies, The Mitfords in Popular Culture
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“In the middle classes the gifted son of a family is always the poorest—usually a writer or artist with no sense for speculation—and in a family of peasants, where the average comfort is just over penury, the gifted son sinks also, and is soon a tramp on the roadside.”
—J.M. (John Millington)