Copies of the book are available from William Cross.
email Will williecross@aol.com
Good priced copies are on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205370860408
TOM MITFORD : SHORT TIME LINE
1904 : Tom’s parents Hon David Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford and Sydney Bowles marry.
1904 : Tom’s sister Nancy born 28 November.
1907 : Tom’s sister Pam born 25 November.
1909 : Tom born 3 January at
1909 : Tom baptised on 10 February as Thomas David Freeman-Mitford.
1910 : Tom’s sister Diana born 17 June.
1911 : Tom at
1914 : War declared on 28 July.
1914 : Tom’s sister Unity born 8 August.
1914 : Tom’s father David goes to war with the Northumberland Fusiliers.
1915 : Death of Tom’s uncle Hon. Clement Freeman-Mitford heir to the Barony of Redesdale, eldest brother of David on 13 May.
1915 : Tom’s father David becomes heir to the Barony of Redesdale on 13 May. Tom becomes an ‘Honourable’.
1916: Death of Tom’s paternal grandfather ‘Bartie’ Freeman-Mitford: Lord Redesdale 17 August.
1916 : Tom’s father David becomes Lord Redesdale, Tom is next heir in waiting.
1917 : Tom’s sister Jessica born 11 September.
1918-9 : Batsford Park : The Mitford Family Home sold off.
1919: Asthall Manor : Acquired as the new Mitford Family Homestead.
1919: Tom goes off to Lockers Park Preparatory School
1920: Tom’s sister Deborah born 31 March
1922 : Tom’s maternal grandfather ‘Tap’ Bowles dies 12 January
1922 : Tom goes to Eton College as an Oppidan Scholar at Lent Term under House Tutor FW Dobbs in Jourdelay House
1922-1928 : Tom’s Eton College key contemporaries include James Lees-Milne, ( diarist) Randolph Churchill ( son of Winston), Nigel Birch ( politician) and Edward James ( Poet)
1924-7 : Tom joins Cadets C.Q.M.S. Eton College. Contgt and later 16th London Regiment
1926 : David , Tom’s father, pet family name of ‘Farve’ takes a long lease on 26 Rutland Gate, South Kensington, London SW7 with adjoining stables and a Mews flat.
c 1928 : Tom loses his virginity with Baroness ‘ Baba’ De’ Erlanger, having previously engaged in homosexual affairs at Eton with Hamish Erskine, Robert Byron, and others.
1928 : Tom leaves Eton College having made a name for himself in sport, drama and in musical events. Rejects going to University in England.
1922-1930s : Tom’s six sisters reach their ‘coming out’ years as debutantes and are presented at Court by Sydney, pet family name Muv.
1928 : Tom begins his travels through Europe, including to Italy, Germany, Austria and Hungary, for pleasure and to study music and law.
1928-1939 : Tom stays as a paying guest at Castle Bernstein meets Count, Janos Almassi and his neighbours including two sisters, the Countesses Erdody. Tom remains in close touch with regular visits for a decade and more and has Intimate affairs with them ( almost certainly sexual/ diviant).
1928 : Tom has romantic flings in Vienna
and
1929 : Tom returns to England to the family homes in London and Swinbrook.
1929 : Tom enrols as a trainee barrister at the Inner Temple.
1920s-30s : Tom shares a flat with Randolph Churchill and later has his own flat at 4 Rutland Mews.
1929 : Bruno Hat Hoax – Tom is importuned by Lytton Strachey
1929 : Tom meets Tilly Losch ( Austrian ballet dancer and later Hollywood actress) in Paris and begins a 10-year-long affair.
C1929-1944 : Tom has a series of carnal affairs with numerous women including Baroness Baba D’erlanger, Doris Castlerosse, Lady Diana Cooper, Janetta Woolley, Penelope Dudley Ward, Sheilah Graham, Barbara, Countess of Moray, Lady Carolyn Paget, La Jana, and Tilly Losch
1930s : Tom is flying with the Auxiliary Air Force and has an accident
1930-1: Tom is a part of the Mitford family ski-ing and skating trips to Switzerland
1932 :Tom is called to the Bar and begins to seek briefs and has own London flat at 4 Rutland Mews with a housekeeper.
1933 -1940s : Tom is active in the Territorials – “ Queens Westminsters”.
1930s : Tom is involved in running “ The Worst Play Club” and regular first nighter.
1933 : Tom provides support to his sister Diana during her divorce from Bryan Guinness.
1933-34 : Tom’s affair with Tilly Losch reaches a crisis point with Tilly’s divorce from Edward James.
1934 : Tom is junior consul in the Haddon “ Letters to the King” blackmail scandal.
1935 : Tom Is junior consul in the Rattenbury Murder Case defending “Stoner”.
1935- 1939 : Tom is on call as aid/driver / companion for his sisters Diana and Unity during conquest of Germany and pursuit of Adolf Hitler. Tom meet Hitler and attends several Nazi Rallys at Nuremberg. Back in England Tom also joins Oswald Mosley’s BUF.
1936 : Tom’s mistress Tilly Losch leaves Britain for USA ( she returns 1938) and has a holiday with tom in Austria. Tilly goes to a TB clinic in Switzerland
1937 : Tom is involved in the “ Ward of Court” application over elopement of his sister Decca with Esmond Romilly. Tom defends sister Deborah in a legal action for libel against the Daily Express
1938 : Tom is a dilemma over the Munich crisis and invasion of Austria.
1938 : Tom is made up to Deputy Judge Advocate General dealing with Court Martials.
1939 : Tom is called up for full time military service as war clouds form over Europe.
1937-9 : Tom supports his father “Farve” in pro –German speeches in The House of Lords
1939 : Tom attends a BUF meeting
at
1940-1944 : Tom is army training and posted with the “ Queens Westminsters” to Italy, North Africa and Palestine.
1940s : Tom ( with Muv) makes representations to Winston Churchill to have Diana and Oswald Mosley ( interned as a danger to the state) brought together in one prison – and this was achieved
1944: Tom spends 6 months back in London at Army Staff College – Several references of note covering the period in James Lees-Milne Diaries.
1945 : Tom reassigned to a Unit away from the European land mass goes as Adjutant to 1 Battn Devonshire Regiment – in the jungles of Burma.
1945 : March Tom is wounded and transferred to hospital where he dies on 30 March 1945
1946? : Farve has the memorial to “ A Very Perfect Son and Brother “ for Tom placed in St Mary’s Church, Swinbrook
1958 : Farve Dies at Otterburn, Northumberland – his last years are spent with his mistress.
1963 : Muv Dies at Inch Kenneth – the Scottish Island owned by Tom