TOM MITFORD BIOGRAPHY : A FEARFUL OLD TWISTER

 

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TOM MITFORD 1909-1945

A FEARFUL OLD TWISTER

The only brother of the outrageous Mitford Sisters

Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah

Tom was a beloved son and brother, a barrister, soldier and lover of both sexes. He was killed in Burma fighting the Japanese on 30 March 1945, aged 36

A FULL LENGTH BIOGRAPHY OF TOM FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE BY WILLIAM CROSS FSA, SCOT

The best way of buying the book is on ebay - click on the link below -  or  enquire direct from the Author William Cross  via his email contact address

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205370860408

 

williecross@aol.com

 

 

Top: Tom Mitford in 1931

Bottom : Tom With His Sisters 1935

THE MITFORDS

DENNISTOUN V DENNISTOUN RECALLED FROM 1925

 

 

Dennistoun v Dennistoun

Kings Bench Division, High Court, 1925

“The Dustbin Case”

 Dorothy Dennistoun brought a Civil Court action against her former husband, Ian Dennistoun, a retired Army officer, to recover £1300 she advanced him for bills and loans during their marriage. She also claimed damages for breach of a verbal contract for maintenance.

 The Dennistouns married in 1910 but divorced in 1921. Dorothy was persuaded not to seek maintenance.  Ian said he’d make provision, if he could, at a later date.   In 1920, Dorothy met Almina, Lady Carnarvon through General John Cowans, quartermaster of the British Army during WW1 and a close friend of the Dennistouns.  Later, Ian met Almina, whose husband discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb and famously died from a mosquito-bite in April 1923. Almina and Ian fell in love.

Almina deposited large amounts of money into Ian’s bank account during 1922-3.  Ian repaid Dorothy £500.  She reminded him what amount was owed.  Later, he left an envelope addressed with her pet name “Brown Mouse” containing £100. By September 1923, Dorothy wanted full repayment.  Ian refused to discuss matters except through his solicitors. Meanwhile, Almina installed him in a flashy London apartment, and then in December 1923 they married.

During 1924 no progress was made to settle with Dorothy. On 3 March 1925 The Dustbin Case (said Punch) came before Mr. Justice McCardie.  Sir Ellis Hume-Williams KC representing Dorothy, Sir Edward Marshall Hall KC for Ian. It lasted 17 sordid days, rocking the Establishment, destroying many reputations.

Dorothy was named mistress of General John Cowans.  She claimed she’d only been intimate with him to secure advancement for Ian in the Army.  Cowans  - a legend – had died in 1921 – and was given a State funeral.

There was mudslinging all-round. Dorothy’s team claimed she’d been intimidated by claims about her misconduct. Ian’s team described Dorothy as a blackmailer misusing private letters written by him ( pet name “Tiger” ).

The case dominated newspaper headlines for weeks. Well-dressed women camped in the Strand to visit the Court scene. The King wrote to the Lord Chancellor of his  “disgust and shame” about the case.

Edward Marshall Hall – who’d misguidedly taken the brief as a friend of Ian - lost control of his attacks on Dorothy, she remained cool throughout 14 hours of cross-examination.  Her immorality was exposed with many lovers named.  One, a Spaniard, Bolin (with whom she fell pregnant and was to marry) was cited as the true reason for divorcing Dennistoun.  And that Dorothy had only taken the proceedings as Ian’s new wife was very rich and was sure she’d want to settle out of Court.   It was said “ Tiger” Dennistoun was fully aware and encouraged Dorothy’s liaisons with Cowans.  Ian’s appointments between 1913-17 were orchestrated by Cowans, first as a favour, then only for sex.   In 1916, Ian visited the Ritz Hotel, Paris ahead of Cowans seducing Dorothy to ensure everything was laid-on.   Dorothy impressed the Jury who awarded her £5000 damages. The Judge said this was inconsistent with the law. He gave judgement in favour of Dorothy’s claims for only £472.18 ruling “there was no binding agreement to support her.”  The case incurred ten-of-thousands of pounds in costs and lawyers’ fees, neither party saved face.   Interestingly it was the last divorce case of endless dirty-washing being hung out in public.  Despite a strong protest campaign by the Press, Parliament passed the Judicial Proceedings (Regulation of Reports) Act 1926 prohibiting the detailed reporting of divorce cases in newspapers. MORE INFORMATION CONTACT WILLIAM CROSS COPIES OF THE BOOK ARE STILL AVAILABLE FROM WILL williecross@aol.com

DENNISTOUN v DENNISTOUN REMEMBERED FROM 1925

 

 

Dennistoun v Dennistoun

Kings Bench Division, High Court, 1925

“The Dustbin Case”

 Dorothy Dennistoun brought a Civil Court action against her former husband, Ian Dennistoun, a retired Army officer, to recover £1300 she advanced him for bills and loans during their marriage. She also claimed damages for breach of a verbal contract for maintenance.

The Dennistouns married in 1910 but divorced in 1921. Dorothy was persuaded not to seek maintenance.  Ian said he’d make provision, if he could, at a later date.   In 1920, Dorothy met Almina, Lady Carnarvon through General John Cowans, quartermaster of the British Army during WW1 and a close friend of the Dennistouns.  Later, Ian met Almina, whose husband discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb and famously died from a mosquito-bite in April 1923. Almina and Ian fell in love.

Almina deposited large amounts of money into Ian’s bank account during 1922-3.  Ian repaid Dorothy £500.  She reminded him what amount was owed.  Later, he left an envelope addressed with her pet name “Brown Mouse” containing £100. By September 1923, Dorothy wanted full repayment.  Ian refused to discuss matters except through his solicitors. Meanwhile, Almina installed him in a flashy London apartment, and then in December 1923 they married.

During 1924 no progress was made to settle with Dorothy. On 3 March 1925 The Dustbin Case (said Punch) came before Mr. Justice McCardie.  Sir Ellis Hume-Williams KC representing Dorothy, Sir Edward Marshall Hall KC for Ian. It lasted 17 sordid days, rocking the Establishment, destroying many reputations.

Dorothy was named mistress of General John Cowans.  She claimed she’d only been intimate with him to secure advancement for Ian in the Army.  Cowans  - a legend – had died in 1921 – and was given a State funeral.

There was mudslinging all-round. Dorothy’s team claimed she’d been intimidated by claims about her misconduct. Ian’s team described Dorothy as a blackmailer misusing private letters written by him ( pet name “Tiger” ).

The case dominated newspaper headlines for weeks. Well-dressed women camped in the Strand to visit the Court scene. The King wrote to the Lord Chancellor of his  “disgust and shame” about the case.

Edward Marshall Hall – who’d misguidedly taken the brief as a friend of Ian - lost control of his attacks on Dorothy, she remained cool throughout 14 hours of cross-examination.  Her immorality was exposed with many lovers named.  One, a Spaniard, Bolin (with whom she fell pregnant and was to marry) was cited as the true reason for divorcing Dennistoun.  And that Dorothy had only taken the proceedings as Ian’s new wife was very rich and was sure she’d want to settle out of Court.   It was said “ Tiger” Dennistoun was fully aware and encouraged Dorothy’s liaisons with Cowans.  Ian’s appointments between 1913-17 were orchestrated by Cowans, first as a favour, then only for sex.   In 1916, Ian visited the Ritz Hotel, Paris ahead of Cowans seducing Dorothy to ensure everything was laid-on.   Dorothy impressed the Jury who awarded her £5000 damages. The Judge said this was inconsistent with the law. He gave judgement in favour of Dorothy’s claims for only £472.18 ruling “there was no binding agreement to support her.”  The case incurred ten-of-thousands of pounds in costs and lawyers’ fees, neither party saved face.   Interestingly it was the last divorce case of endless dirty-washing being hung out in public.  Despite a strong protest campaign by the Press, Parliament passed the Judicial Proceedings (Regulation of Reports) Act 1926 prohibiting the detailed reporting of divorce cases in newspapers.

The Dustbin Case

 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION  CONTACT WILLIAM CROSS. COPIES OF THE BOOK ARE STILL AVAILABLE FROM WILL. EMAIL BELOW

 williecross@aol.com

 

 

BEECHWOOD : A STORY OF CHILDHOOD FROM WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT

 

    Beechwood : A Story of Childhood

Anecdotes  from Author William Cross, FSA Scot recounting his childhood in Scotland in the 1950s and 1960s. 

Beechwood, Cleland, was the Cross family home from 1900-1965

                                                                       

                                                              BEECHWOOD TODAY

Quotes On Childhood

 “Childhood has its secrets and its mysteries; but who can tell or who can explain them!”     Max Muller 

 “What was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world.” GK Chesterton

 "We carry our childhood with us.”– Gary D. Schmidt

The passage of time changes a village landscape. We have a responsibility to record something about the place(s) where we grew-up and recall to memory the people and things remembered from time-past.

 

The recounting of this is important : it is of value to the next generation to pass on to them: and to ourselves it is a sort of life passage. It can be a mix of the wonderfully sentimental exorcising some ghosts, but not everyone has pleasant memories to recapture from childhood.

 

In this illustrated talk Will Cross recalls to life some of the affectionate memories of his childhood and family roots. The work was inspired by his late parents Daisy & John, his  late grandmother Peggy Bryce  and late brother Charlie, who died aged 40 in 1995.

    BEECHWOOD, CLELAND, BY LANARK, SCOTLAND

 

There are stories of ghosts, spies, writers in the family, including science fiction  guru, John Keir Cross,  singers, including Dickie Valentine, and the importance to the family of Kate's Well, a natural spring of 15th century origin, from the ancient hills nearby at Shotts. 

The tribute is also to  the village of Cleland, in Lanarkshire, Scotland and a precious period of childhood lived   at Beechwood, Cleland the family home of the Crosses and collaterals from 1900-1965.

 Cleland remains a small,  proud and   charming  village in Lanarkshire, Scotland with an industrial past, a famous old iron works at Omoa ( an adjoining hamlet to Cleland) and a notable brick making company based at Auchinlea (another hamlet).

                                         AUCHINLEA

They make them "big" in Lanarkshire: Take John Weir...

An 8-Stone Baby!  Cambusnethan’s famous "giant baby"  is buried in the old churchyard. The stone is now  almost unreadable but the transcription is ---

"Erected by John Weir and Jean Elder of this parish in memory of their son James who died 20th August 1821 aged 17 months and 9 days. This child, when only 13 months, measured 3 feet 4 inches in height, 39 inches round the body, 20 inches round the thigh and weighed 8 stones. Said at the time by the medical faculties of Edinburgh and Glasgow to be the most remarkable child of his age on record". 

William Cross, FSA Scot is a writer, researcher and lecturer based at Newport, South Wales. He is the author of books on the Morgans of Tredegar House, Newport and on the Carnarvons of Highclere Casle ( Downton Abbey). 

Will's latest book, available from April 2025, is a biography of Tom Mitford, the only boy in that outrageous family of six Mitford  women, all seeking attention.   

         TOM MITFORD : A FEARFUL OLD TWISTER

ONLY BROTHER OF THE OUTRAGEOUS MITFORD SISTERS

Enquiries about books, talks, e-mail Will

williecross@aol.com

williecross@virginmedia.com                        

 

In " Lockdown"  in 2020/1 Will wrote a book " Beechwood : A Story of Childhood"  which he reads from during talks.

It's impossible to finish recollections of childhood without quoting the famous lines about parents, from  Philip Larkin. 

LEO ABSE (1917-2008) : LAW REFORMER : “All The World’s A Stage”

 

LEO : LAW REFORMER

 

Tonight in Newport at The Newport Local History Society ( Pen and Wig PH, Stow Hill from 7pm )  local  Author  William Cross, FSA Scot, offers a talk on the life and work of the  former Pontypool & Torfaen MP, Leo Abse, (1917-2008),  a small, bespectacled “Lilliputian Welsh fire-cracker” brimming with self confidence, a charismatic dandy much  beloved as a local and national politician over many decades.

 

Leo was a lawyer by profession,  who in his time in Parliament (1958-1988) successfully sponsored more Private Members Bills than any other Parliamentarian. Leo Abse’s name can be attached to important changes in the law  from the 1960s to the 1980s  almost all in  highly controversial areas of life and death. These included  the law on  Suicide, Infanticide, Capital Punishment (Hanging),  Homosexual Reform, Divorce Reform, Family Planning and improving the rights of Children (Adoption) and Widows.  He was also prominent in Penal Reform and abolishing Nuclear Weapons.

 

Abse’s place in the hall of fame of  history is almost certainly to be as the sponsor of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, a piece of legislation (enacting the recommendations of the Wolfenden Report (of 1957))  that initiated  a monumental change in the law that allowed sexual relations between men over the age of 21, overturning legislation from the time of King Henry VIII and dire laws enacted in Victorian  times that were zealously applied by the police and courts & blighted lives. This change slowly but  inevitably led to other updates in the law resulting in parity between the sexes and genders and finally settling the age of consent at sixteen. It also removed the restrictions on homosexuals joining the armed services.

 

The talk takes a retrospective look at this law from Victorian times (and before)  with some of the most controversial and public of the cases that reached the courts before 1967, including the notorious Abergavenny case of 1942, the Turing case from 1952 and prosecution of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu in 1954.

 

Leo Abse was born in Cardiff in 1917. He was from  Welsh Jewish- Eastern European stock. His father Rudolf was a cinema manager , his mother Kate Shepherd was the daughter of strict orthodox Jews. Leo was the middle brother of three, the eldest being  Wilfred  ( who became a psychiatrist  in USA) and younger brother  Dannie, a doctor and notable poet. There was also a sister Hulda who was the first born ( in Bridgend) who emigrated to the USA.

 

Leo attended Howard Garden School in Cardiff and later the London School of Economics. He joined the Labour Party in the 1930s and after active service as an aircraftsman in WW2 with the RAF in the Middle East he was active in local politics, in Cardiff Young Socialists and on Cardiff Council. As a lawyer he formed ( in 1951) his own law firm Leo Abse and Cohen & specialised in criminal cases & family law, including offering a life line for men & youths caught up in sexual offences charges, in particular in gross indecency cases.

 

A flamboyant dresser,  Abse made enemies too especially on issues he opposed including Welsh devolution and abortion. He was MP for Pontypool from 1958-1983 and for Toefaen until he retired in 1988. He was the author of several pscho- political biographies taking a Freudian look at Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher & others.   He married twice, his second wife and son & daughter survive. He died in London with his funeral at St Gabriel’s Cwmbran.

 

Will Cross is a writer & lecturer based in Newport, South Wales. He is the author of  “ The Abergavenny Witch Hunt” which examined the law relating to homosexuality over the centuries and revealed the  human price paid in a  barbaric period of our history. Will has also written a variety of  books on the Morgans of Tredegar House, Newport & the Carnarvons of Highclere Castle ( Downton Abbey). 

Will is currently writing a book entitled  “TOM MITFORD : A FEARFUL OLD TWISTER” all about Tom Mitford, ( 1909-1945), the only brother in  the family of the famous, scandalous, Mitford Girls of Society trouble and strife.  Contact Will  by email for other talks/ books williecross@aol.com