Deborah Mitford
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Her Grace The Duchess of Devonshire DCVO |
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The Duchess of Devonshire, 1938
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| Born | Deborah Vivien Freeman-Mitford 31 March 1920 Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire, England |
| Died | 24 September 2014 (aged 94) |
| Tenure | 26 November 1950 – 3 May 2004 |
| Residence | Edensor House, Chatsworth Estate, Derbyshire |
| Spouse(s) | Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire (m. 1941; his death 2004) |
| Issue | 6, including Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire and Lady Sophia Topley |
| Parents |
David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale Sydney Bowles |
| Occupation | Writer, memoirist, socialite |
Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, DCVO (born Freeman-Mitford; 31 March 1920 – 24 September 2014) was an English aristocrat, writer, memoirist and socialite. She was the youngest and last surviving of the six Mitford sisters, who were prominent members of English society in the 1930s and 1940s.
Known to her family as "Debo", Deborah Mitford was born in Asthall Manor, Oxfordshire, England. Her parents were Baron Redesdale (1878–1958), son of Algernon Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, and his wife, Sydney (1880–1963), daughter of Thomas Gibson Bowles, MP. She married Lord Andrew Cavendish, younger son of the 10th Duke of Devonshire, in 1941. When Cavendish's older brother, William, Marquess of Hartington, was killed in action in 1944, Cavendish became heir to the dukedom and began to use the courtesy title Marquess of Hartington. In 1950, on the death of his father, the Marquess of Hartington became the 11th Duke of Devonshire.
The Duchess was the main public face of Chatsworth for many decades. She wrote several books about Chatsworth, and played a key role in the restoration of the house, the enhancement of the garden and the development of commercial activities such as Chatsworth Farm Shop (which is on a quite different scale from most farm shops, as it employs a hundred people); Chatsworth's other retail and catering operations; and assorted offshoots such as Chatsworth Food, which sells luxury foodstuffs carrying her signature; and Chatsworth Design, which sells image rights to items and designs from the Chatsworth collections. Recognising the commercial imperatives of running a stately home, she took a very active role and was known to man the Chatsworth House ticket office herself. She also supervised the development of the Cavendish Hotel at Baslow, near Chatsworth, and the Devonshire Arms Hotel at Bolton Abbey.
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