Scotland; National Library of Scotland; and Somerset Record Office. Thanks also to the staff of the Cheshire Record Office and the West Sussex County Council Record Office for allowing me to read private collections on site, and to the staff of the London Library. For access to private collections, I am grateful to the Earl of Egremont; Hugo Vickers; the Whittingehame Estate; Francis Wyndham; and others. Lord Wemyss has been generous beyond measure in allowing me access to the Stanway archives, and granting me permission to reproduce images in the Stanway Collection. James and Olinda Adeane have been extraordinarily helpful and kind. The Bonham Carter Trustee and Christopher Osborn were kind enough to grant me permission to quote copyright work of Margot Asquith. Others to whom I am grateful are the Earl and Countess of Oxford and Asquith for showing me material relating to Raymond Asquith and Frances, Lady Horner; Lady Glenconner; Philip Hoare for answering last-minute, anxious requests; and Melissa Wyndham and Suzanne Lobel for their enthusiasm for the project.
Certain people have helped this book immeasurably along its way. Philippa Brewster, Dan Jones and Hugo Vickers have all been the most sympathetic and helpful of ears in various times of crisis. Juggling writing with my other career as a barrister has been possible only thanks to the support of those at Essex Court Chambers, in particular my clerks David Grief and Jack Wood; and my erstwhile pupil supervisor Nathan Pillow. To all my friends: especially Will Gresford, who encouraged me to take on the project and whose connections set me on the way; Laura Hamm, my wingman in every coffee shop in New York; Lauren Aguilar, who lived with the book for two months across Sri Lanka; Ollie Marre, Joanna Buckley and Henry Day, my life-lines through law school; Lucy Davis; Maggie Asquith; Phoebe Barran; and Charlotte Evans, whose support has been unfailing since we were eighteen years old. To my godparents David and Angela Neuberger and Alex Gordon Shute; Jonny and Gabrielle Levy for their immediate, overwhelming support in the darkest of times. To all those who have lived with me and my boxes of books (in chronological order): Sarah O’Reilly, Sophie Elmhirst, Raya al Bader, Patrick Hennessey, Viva van Loock, Becca Ratcliffe and Nicky Sayers: thanks for listening to me bang on and I’m sorry about the mess. To Mark Lobel, who has now so gracefully taken on their mantle – thank you.
To list my myriad, ever-expanding family requires a deep breath, so here goes: my father Simon Renton, stepmother Rachel Smith and sister Izzy Renton; my grandmother Lavinia Hankinson; my stepfather Derek J. Content; Judy Englender; my sister Philippa Content and her clan, Chris, Arlo and Nina Winterbourne; my South African family, Jonathan, Gail, Kate, Nicky and Matty Schrire; Toby Colegate-Stone, the most patient and tolerant of brothers-in-law; and Imi and Mabel, the next generation of (head)strong women. Thank you all beyond measure.
Finally, I come to the hardest, and the easiest, thanks of all. To my brilliant, bold and beloved mother Amanda Content, who died in October 2009, as I was halfway through this book, and my sister Julia Colegate-Stone, who has helped me every step of the way before and since. I could not have begun to understand the ties that bound the Wyndham women together without my own experience to draw on. To my mother and my sister, this is for, and because of, you.
Claudia Renton
Lincoln’s Inn Fields
December 2013
About the Author
Claudia Renton took a First at Oxford and was awarded the Gibbs Book Prize for Modern History. Now a practising barrister, she was previously an actress, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the National theatre. She is co-author of
Heroes
with Simon Sebag Montefiore and was identified as one of the
Guardian’
s ‘new history girls’ and
Vogue’
s ‘Bright Stars’ of the next decade. She lives in
Certain people have helped this book immeasurably along its way. Philippa Brewster, Dan Jones and Hugo Vickers have all been the most sympathetic and helpful of ears in various times of crisis. Juggling writing with my other career as a barrister has been possible only thanks to the support of those at Essex Court Chambers, in particular my clerks David Grief and Jack Wood; and my erstwhile pupil supervisor Nathan Pillow. To all my friends: especially Will Gresford, who encouraged me to take on the project and whose connections set me on the way; Laura Hamm, my wingman in every coffee shop in New York; Lauren Aguilar, who lived with the book for two months across Sri Lanka; Ollie Marre, Joanna Buckley and Henry Day, my life-lines through law school; Lucy Davis; Maggie Asquith; Phoebe Barran; and Charlotte Evans, whose support has been unfailing since we were eighteen years old. To my godparents David and Angela Neuberger and Alex Gordon Shute; Jonny and Gabrielle Levy for their immediate, overwhelming support in the darkest of times. To all those who have lived with me and my boxes of books (in chronological order): Sarah O’Reilly, Sophie Elmhirst, Raya al Bader, Patrick Hennessey, Viva van Loock, Becca Ratcliffe and Nicky Sayers: thanks for listening to me bang on and I’m sorry about the mess. To Mark Lobel, who has now so gracefully taken on their mantle – thank you.
To list my myriad, ever-expanding family requires a deep breath, so here goes: my father Simon Renton, stepmother Rachel Smith and sister Izzy Renton; my grandmother Lavinia Hankinson; my stepfather Derek J. Content; Judy Englender; my sister Philippa Content and her clan, Chris, Arlo and Nina Winterbourne; my South African family, Jonathan, Gail, Kate, Nicky and Matty Schrire; Toby Colegate-Stone, the most patient and tolerant of brothers-in-law; and Imi and Mabel, the next generation of (head)strong women. Thank you all beyond measure.
Finally, I come to the hardest, and the easiest, thanks of all. To my brilliant, bold and beloved mother Amanda Content, who died in October 2009, as I was halfway through this book, and my sister Julia Colegate-Stone, who has helped me every step of the way before and since. I could not have begun to understand the ties that bound the Wyndham women together without my own experience to draw on. To my mother and my sister, this is for, and because of, you.
Claudia Renton
Lincoln’s Inn Fields
December 2013
About the Author
Claudia Renton took a First at Oxford and was awarded the Gibbs Book Prize for Modern History. Now a practising barrister, she was previously an actress, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the National theatre. She is co-author of
Heroes
with Simon Sebag Montefiore and was identified as one of the
Guardian’
s ‘new history girls’ and
Vogue’
s ‘Bright Stars’ of the next decade. She lives in
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