Sylvia Sackville, Countess De La Warr (1904-1992)
born Sylvia Mary Harrison (sister to Sir Rex), who will marry in 1968 Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr, brother to the infamous Idina Sackville.
Stormy weather. El Monte, CA.
Sylvia, of course, is just an excuse to get to Idina, "[t]he child of conventionally irresponsible, moneyed parents from a family dating to the Conquest, lovely, weak-chinned Idina [who] haunted the bars and ballrooms of Edwardian London like a character in fiction. She was inseparable from a black Pekingese named Satan, cultivated a more than slightly dangerous image, and married one of the youngest, richest and best-looking of the available millionaires a year before the Great War broke out," as the Oberver describes her in its review ("Decline and fall of a flapper" 04.05.08) of the recent biography by Idina's great-granddaughter.
And this was all before she moved to Kenya. "In an age of wicked women, Idina pushed the bounds of behavior to extremes." (Frances Osborne, "The Bolter").
As you might imagine, the 1904 associations are abundant: Idina's best friend Barbie Lutyens -- daughter of the architect and sister to Ursula who is born in 1904 -- runs off with Idina's husband; Idina's other best friend "Dickie" is Lady Morvyth Ward, daughter of William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley (1867-1932), who is Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1902-1905 and makes an appearance on his way to the dedication of a church in Joyce's Ulysses on June 16, 1904. Dickie's sister is Lady Alexandra Patricia Ward (1904-1964) who never marries, perhaps as a consequence of seeing what her sister's friends could get up to. Idina married five times, not to mention the affairs. Her bed was known as "the battleground."
"The Bolter" of course refers to the mother of the narrator of Nancy Mitford's (1904-1973) Love novels ("Love in a Cold Climate," "The Pursuit of Love" and "Don't Tell Alfred.").
By 1955 Idina was dead from cancer. "She left behind half-a-dozen hairbrushes, several pots of cold cream, scent bottles with silver trimmings, nail files, a glove-stretcher, a cocktail dress and a large, black taffeta bow." (Obersever, ibid).
As my dear friend Justin wrote, "What more do you need?"
Stormy weather. El Monte, CA.
Sylvia, of course, is just an excuse to get to Idina, "[t]he child of conventionally irresponsible, moneyed parents from a family dating to the Conquest, lovely, weak-chinned Idina [who] haunted the bars and ballrooms of Edwardian London like a character in fiction. She was inseparable from a black Pekingese named Satan, cultivated a more than slightly dangerous image, and married one of the youngest, richest and best-looking of the available millionaires a year before the Great War broke out," as the Oberver describes her in its review ("Decline and fall of a flapper" 04.05.08) of the recent biography by Idina's great-granddaughter.
And this was all before she moved to Kenya. "In an age of wicked women, Idina pushed the bounds of behavior to extremes." (Frances Osborne, "The Bolter").
As you might imagine, the 1904 associations are abundant: Idina's best friend Barbie Lutyens -- daughter of the architect and sister to Ursula who is born in 1904 -- runs off with Idina's husband; Idina's other best friend "Dickie" is Lady Morvyth Ward, daughter of William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley (1867-1932), who is Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1902-1905 and makes an appearance on his way to the dedication of a church in Joyce's Ulysses on June 16, 1904. Dickie's sister is Lady Alexandra Patricia Ward (1904-1964) who never marries, perhaps as a consequence of seeing what her sister's friends could get up to. Idina married five times, not to mention the affairs. Her bed was known as "the battleground."
"The Bolter" of course refers to the mother of the narrator of Nancy Mitford's (1904-1973) Love novels ("Love in a Cold Climate," "The Pursuit of Love" and "Don't Tell Alfred.").
By 1955 Idina was dead from cancer. "She left behind half-a-dozen hairbrushes, several pots of cold cream, scent bottles with silver trimmings, nail files, a glove-stretcher, a cocktail dress and a large, black taffeta bow." (Obersever, ibid).
As my dear friend Justin wrote, "What more do you need?"
a glove stretcher. and i've been using my dog.
xxx
Who stole the minaudière?