David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale

David Bertram Ogilvy Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale (13 March 1878 – 17 March 1958), was an English landowner and was the father of the Mitford sisters, in whose various novels and memoirs he is depicted.

Redesdale was the second son of Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale and Lady Clementine Gertrude Helen Ogilvy. The Mitfords are a family of landed gentry from Northumberland, dating back to the 14th century; Redesdale's great-great-grandfather was the historian William Mitford. His father, Bertram, called Bertie, was a diplomat, politician and author, with large inherited estates in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire as well as Northumberland. He was raised to the peerage in 1902, and thus his son then became known as The Hon David Freeman-Mitford, although the surname Mitford was more commonly used.

Mitford's legendary eccentricity was evident from an early age. As a child he was prone to sudden fits of rage. He was totally uninterested in reading or education, wishing only to spend his time riding. He later liked to boast that he had read only one book in his life, Jack London's novel White Fang, on the basis that he had enjoyed it so much he had vowed never to read another, although in fact he read most of his daughters' books. His lack of academic aptitude meant that he was not sent to Eton with his older brother, but rather to Radley, with the intention that he should enter the army. But he failed the entrance examination to Sandhurst, and was instead sent to Ceylon to work for a tea planter.

In 1900 he returned to England and joined the Northumberland Fusiliers as a private for the Second Boer War, in which he served with distinction and was wounded three times, losing one lung. He was briefly taken prisoner by the Boers in June 1900 but escaped. He also served with the 40th (Oxfordshire) Company of the Imperial Yeomanry as a private, and returned to the United Kingdom in April 1902.

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