8 Huxley, Elspeth, Nellie: Letters from Africa (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1973), p. 101.
9 Nevada State Journal, Wednesday 18 April 1934.
10 Euan Wallace’s words to his daughter-in-law, Pru de Winton, the author’s grandmother.
11 Letter, Viscountess Ridley (née Ursula Lutyens) to Davina Howell, 28 October 1965, quoting her diary for 9–17 September 1922.
12 Wallace, David, personal diary 1934.
CHAPTER 21
1 How Idina styled herself to her children.
2 And she made a point about it.
3 The most junior scullery maid, so called because in Victorian times she had slept between the underneath of the stairs and the coal cellar.
4 As expressed in David’s letters, diary and his own words to his wife, it was the one place where he truly felt at home.
5 Letter, Viscountess Ridley (née Ursula Lutyens) to Davina Howell, 28 October 1965, quoting her diary for 9–17 September 1922.
6 Ibid.
7 As David (and other family members) later told his wife.
8 As evidenced by both Euan’s diary, see below, and David’s own later diary.
9 And following: Wallace, Euan, personal diaries 1917–41.
10 From Barbie’s reply to a letter to him.
11 Letter from his former housemaster, also clearly in reply to an unhappy letter from David.
12 Wallace, David, personal diary 1934.
13 And following: Wallace, David, personal diary 1934.
CHAPTER 22
1 Wallace, Euan, personal diaries 1917–41.
2 As photographs of David Wallace show.
3 And following: Wallace, David, personal diary 1934.
4 She had just bought an extensive peach wardrobe for that spring, as detailed in Nevada State Journal, Wednesday 18 April 1934.
5 Idina asked everyone she met this (interviews, Nairobi 2004).
6 This was the last contact they had before meeting again and the invitation therefore must have been settled then.
CHAPTER 23
1 And following: Wallace, David, personal diary 1934.
2 Ibid., 9 July.
3 And following: Wallace, Euan, personal diaries 1917–41.
4 See quotations below.
5 As recounted by Billy Wallace on a return visit to Kildonan in the 1960s.
6 Wallace, Euan, personal diaries 1917–41.
7 As Idina called herself to Dinan in letters and on the back of the photographs she sent her from Kenya.
8 As he later told his wife, now Ann Douglas.
9 And following: Forbes, Rosita, Appointment in the Sun (Cassell & Co., London 1949), pp. 274–8.
10 Published by Cassell & Co., London 1949.
11 Interview with Raymond Carr, May 2007.
12 Telephone interview with Patrick Leigh Fermor, 2004.
13 As David told his wife, the author’s grandmother.
14 Ibid.
15 She said this to her son, Merlin Erroll.
16 Forbes, Rosita, Appointment in the Sun (Cassell & Co., London 1949), p. 274.
17 Telephone interview with Norah Angelbeck, November 2007.
CHAPTER 24
1 Words of the senior government pathologist, Dr Vint, as quoted in Trzebinski, Errol, The Life and Death of Lord Erroll (Fourth Estate, London 2001), p. 210.
2 Ibid.
3 Nor was it ever returned.
4 As evidenced by her later habit of returning to Slains and taking a siesta alone in their old bedroom, to remember the old times. Interview, Nairobi, June 2004 (source wishes to remain anonymous).
5 Wallace, Euan, personal diaries 1917–41.
6 This story is as recounted by Pru de Winton (then Mrs David Wallace).
7 As Pru herself said and, knowing Pru well (she is my grandmother), she would have made this abundantly clear.
8 Pru de Winton.
9 Despite a wide variety of theories since, nobody has ever been convicted.
10 Interview with Patsy Chilton, London, 2004.
11 As Idina would shortly write to her daughter-in-law: ‘I am not very brave any more.’
12 Letters, David Wallace to his wife Pru 1942–3.
13 Ibid.
14 Pru de Winton.
15 Letter, Barbie Lutyens to David Wallace, 1936.
16 As it is still widely known in the village of Barrhill.
17 Letter, Gee Wallace to David Wallace.
18 Ibid. and Pru de Winton.
19 Correspondence between Errol Trzebinski and Anthea Venning, September 1997.
20 Ibid.
21 Pru de Winton.
22 Correspondence between Errol Trzebinski and Anthea Venning, September 1997.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
CHAPTER 25
1 How she later referred to Gee to friends. Interview, Nairobi, June 2004 (source wishes to remain anonymous).
2 Interview with Molly Hoare, Surrey, UK, 2004.
3 Ibid. It is not clear whether this was a sexual relationship but wartime affairs, when couples were separated for years at a stretch, were neither uncommon nor seen as particularly wrong. It was understood that the affair belonged only to that time and place and that both parties would return to their families.
4 Ibid.
5 Interview, Nairobi, 2004 (source wishes to remain anonymous).
6 Letter, David Wallace to his wife Pru, December 1943.
7 Letter, Idina to Pru, 13 September 1944.
8 British Reports on Greece, 1943–44, Stevens, J. M. Woodhouse, C. M., and Wallace, D. J. (Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen 1982).
9 Ibid.
10 Ranfurly, Hermione, To War with Whitaker (Arrow Books, London 1998), p. 205.
11 Letters, David Wallace to his wife Pru.
12 Clipping in the author’s possession from The Times (precise date not indicated).
13 Ibid.
14 In her letter to Pru, below, she says that the news ‘has nearly killed me’.
15 Ibid.
16 The Times, 9 September 1944.
17 Clipping in the author’s possession from the Evening News, London (precise date not indicated).
18 Eleftheria, newspaper of EDES (National Republican Greek League) in Corfu, 1 November 1944.
19 Pru de Winton.
20 Aldridge, James, The Sea Eagle (Michael Joseph, London 1944).
21 Idina had a nervous breakdown.
22 Idina had neuritis.
23 As detailed in her letter below.
24 Ibid.
25 Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
26 In The Pursuit of Love.
27 Idina’s usual request for a drink at this time. Interview, with Patsy Chilton, London, May 2004.
28 As evidenced by the quotation below.
29 Interview (source wishes to remain anonymous).
30 ‘Buck will soon be yelling . . . I had better get up,’ Idina to Dinan, 12 August 1950.
31 Idina, Avie and Buck’s old governess.
32 Idina to Dinan, 12 August 1950.
33 Ibid.
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid.
36 Peregrine David Euan Moncreiffe was told that he had been named after Euan.
37 Idina to Dinan, 12 August 1950.
38 Ibid.
39 See photographs, p. 7.
40 Idina to Dinan, 15 August 1950.
41 Ibid.
42 Letter, Idina to Dinan, 18 August 1950.
43 Idina to Dinan, 25 August 1950.
44 Interview, London, 2005 (source wishes to remain anonymous).
45 Interview, London, 2004 (source wishes to remain anonymous).
46 Peregrine now has six children of his own, two of whom are named Euan and Idina.
47 Idina to Dinan, 25 August 1950.
48 Correspondence with author, 21 April 2004.
49 Ibid.
50 Huxley, Elspeth, Nellie: Letters from Africa (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1973), p. 215.
51 Mitford, Nancy, The Pursu
it of Love (Penguin Books, London 1945), p. 192.
CHAPTER 26
1 Letter, Idina to Dinan, August 1950.
2 Her letter to Pru in February 1945.
3 Her letter to Pru in September 1944.
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Clifford, Colin, The Asquiths (John Murray, London 2002)
Cooper, Artemis, Cairo in the War (Hamish Hamilton, London 1989)
Cooper, Diana, The Rainbow Comes and Goes (Rupert Hart-Davis, London 1958)
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Cronin, Vincent, Paris on the Eve (Collins, London 1989)
de Courcy, Anne, The Viceroy’s Daughters (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2000)
de Courcy, Anne, Society’s Queen (Phoenix, London 2004)
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de Janzé, Frédéric, Tarred with the Same Brush (Duckworth, London 1929)
Fairley, Alastair, Bucking the Trend (The Pavilion Trust, Bexhill-on-Sea 2001)
Flanders, Judith, The Victorian House (HarperCollins, London 2003)
Grigg, John, Lloyd George: The People’s Champion 1902–1911 (Eyre Methuen, London 1978)
Grigg, John, Lloyd George: War Leader 1916–1918 (Allen Lane, London 2002)
Guest, Revel, and John, Angela, Lady Charlotte Guest (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1989)
Hall, Lesley, Sex, Gender and Social Change in Britain since 1880 (Macmillan, London 2000)
Hattersley, Roy, The Edwardians (Little, Brown, London 2004)
Holmes, Richard, Tommy (Harper Perennial, London 2005)
Horne, Alastair, Seven Ages of Paris (Macmillan, London 2002)
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Mitford, Nancy, The Pursuit of Love (Hamish Hamilton, London 1945)
Mitford, Nancy, Love in a Cold Climate (Hamish Hamilton, London 1949)
Mitford, Nancy, Don’t Tell Alfred (Hamish Hamilton, London 1960)
Mordaunt Crook, J., The Rise of the Nouveaux Riches (John Murray, London 1999)
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UNPUBLISHED SOURCES
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Acknowledgements
I am far from alone in having long been fascinated by Idina. Luckily so, for this book could not have been written without the enthusiasm and memories of many others. First and foremost among these is my inspirational fellow writer Errol Trzebinski, whose own compelling biography of Joss Erroll led me to her. Errol opened both her door and her copious research to me, displaying an outstanding generosity of both time and spirit. Most importantly, she shared her belief that not only was there a book in Idina, but it was one that ought to be written. She found me a Kenyan guide, the unflappable Tina Beh
rens, and places to stay. She took me to meet those who remembered Idina. And she went back to some of the sources she had spoken to, and asked them for more information. She set a great example of how experienced writers can help those just starting on their career. I shall be not only eternally grateful but bound, years hence, if I am ever able, to do the same for the next generation.
Other Kenyans who helped me along the way out there were Robin Long (Boy Long and Genesta’s son), and his friend Cynthia Ravenscroft, for her memories of Idina in the Gilgil Polo Club; Nan Barratt, Fergus and Rachel Robley, who had me to stay on their Kenyan farms; Juliet Barnes and Solomon, for guiding me up the dirt tracks of the Wanjohi Valley; Peter Nuthu Mughiri and his family for showing me around Clouds, which is now their home; the Earl and Countess of Enniskillen for allowing me to wander around the heavenly Mundui and imagine Idina and Kiki Preston whiling away afternoons on the verandah on the shores of Lake Naivasha; and Mr and Mrs Arthur Wolseley-Lewis and Maureen Delap for their reminiscences of Idina. More Kenya hands were to be found back here in England, providing ebullient conversation packed with abundant information. Among them were Patsy Chilton, Lord and Lady Delamere, Mary Fox, Sarah Graham, Joan Hecktermann, Molly and Arthur Hoare, Paul Spicer and Anne Wadley.
I scooted up to Scotland, lolled on Kildonan’s lawns and was shown around by Colin the caretaker, who was a mine of information about my family’s history in the house. Elizabeth Hughes of Blair Farm tracked down a local history from Duncan Barr. The centenarian Mr Young of Duisk Lodge racked his razor-sharp recollections, as did Andy Kennedy of Wallace Terrace, who for many years worked at Kildonan. Mr and Mrs Hall of the old Kildonan stable block offered me delicious coffee and further pages of information.
Elsewhere I found many helping hands: some writers, some observers, some sources of vital facts. There are too many to list in full but: Norah Angelbeck, Mabel Derry, Tom and Su de Trafford, Ann Douglas, Marybelle Drummond, James Fox (who took me to Idina in the first place with White Mischief ), Odile Fraigneau of Lanvin, Annabel Freyberg, Justine Hardy, Lucy Heathcoat-Amory, Alexandra Ignatieff, Ffion Jenkins, Jeremy Langlands, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Chris Lockwood and Venetia Butterfield, Louise Miller Frost, Christine Nicholls, Viscount Norwich, Andrew Roberts, Jane Robertson, Xan Smiley, Pat Thane, Veronica Wadley, Justin Warshaw, Sara Wheeler and Patricia O’Neill, who wrote from South Africa, were all kind and informative. Here also I should thank Liza Filby, who helped me with some of the research. Her dexterity with databases proved invaluable. And thank you, too, to all those at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Army Museum, the Household Cavalry Museum, the Vintage Motorcycle Club Limited and Coys of South Kensington.
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