The book starts with the first encounter between Sydney Boles and David Freeman Mitford, the parents of the six Mitford girls.
Sydney was born in 1880, and her father was widowed, so she ran the house since she was fourteen.
David Freeman Mitford was the second son of a upper class family. Hew as born in 1878.
Their two fathers were good friends: Thomas Bowles and Algernon Bertam Mitford.
Thomas Gibson Bowles (15 January 1841 – 12 January 1922) was a British politician and publisher. He founded the magazines The Lady and Vanity Fair, and became a Member of Parliament in 1892. He was also the maternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters.
Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale (24 February 1837 – 17 August 1916), was a British diplomat, collector and writer, whose most notable work is Tales of Old Japan (1871). Nicknamed "Bertie", he was the paternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters.
Sydney's father had a relationship with the governess, Rita Shell, known as Trello, and they had some children together. Rita Shell (nickname, Tello; 1863–1950) was a British magazine editor. While serving as the governess to his children, Shell was the mistress of Thomas Gibson Bowles after the death of his wife Jessica Gordon. According to his granddaughter, Julia Budworth, Bowles fathered the last three of Shell's four children.
Before marrying Mitford, Sydney had several suitors. One was Edward 'Jimmy' Meade. The affair was passionate but when she found out that he was a womaniser, she decided ot break up with him.
In this time David joined the Boer War, and he was seriously injured, losing one lung. On 23 May 1900 he joined the Northumberland Fusiliers as a second lieutenant. His battalion served in the Second Boer War in South Africa, where Mitford soon joined in the fighting, in which he served with distinction and was wounded three times, losing one lung.
Sydney and David got married in 1904. His father-in-law gave him a job as an office manager at his magazine 'Lady'. The magazine was founded by Thomas Gibson Bowles (1842 – 1922), the maternal grandfather of the aristocratic and eccentric Mitford sisters. Bowles also founded the English magazine Vanity Fair. The first issue of The Lady, dated 19 February 1885.
In 1904 the Mitfords welcomed their first daughter, Nancy. Pamela was born in 1909. Diana in 1910, and then Tom.
The Mitfords had different nannies to look after the children.
Lily "Ninny" Kersey was the first nanny of the famous Mitford family. Ultimately, Kersey was dismissed by Sydney Mitford when Nancy was about three years old, after her presence was deemed too upsetting for the household.
After Pam was born, they hired Norah Evans. But the nanny who stayed with them for over 30 years was Laura Dicks, nicknamed as Nanny Blor.
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