Daphne Fielding

The Hon. Daphne Winifred Louise Fielding (née Vivian, formerly Thynne; 11 July 1904 – 5 December 1997) was a British author in the 20th century.

The Honourable

Daphne Fielding
Pictured in 1927 with
Henry Thynne, Viscount Weymouth
Born
Daphne Winifred Louise Vivian

11 July 1904
Westminster, London, England
Died5 December 1997(1997-12-05) (aged 93)
OccupationAuthor
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1927; div. 1953)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1953; div. 1978)​
    Children
    Parents

    Early life

    Daphne Vivian was born on 11 July 1904 in Westminster, London, the elder child of George Vivian, 4th Baron Vivian, and Barbara Cicely (née Fanning). Her younger brother was Anthony Vivian, 5th Baron Vivian. Her parents separated when she was four years old and her father raised the children at Glynn, Cornwall, where the family were known as the 'mad Vivians'. He remarried in 1911 to Nancy Lycett Green (a daughter of Sir Edward Green, 2nd Baronet), with whom he had two more children.[1]

    Her paternal grandparents were Hussey Vivian, 3rd Baron Vivian and the former Louisa Alicia Duff (sister of George William Duff-Assheton-Smith of Vaynol, and only daughter of Robert George Duff, of Wellington Lodge, Isle of Wight).[2] Her maternal grandparents were William Atmar Fanning and the former Winifred (née de Bathe) McCalmont (the widow of Harry McCalmont who was a younger daughter of Sir Henry de Bathe, 4th Baronet).[2]

    Career

    She moved in the world of the "Bright Young Things" in the 1920s and produced a series of popular books about high society.[3] Of Fielding's memoirs, Mercury Presides, Evelyn Waugh wrote: "Daphne has written her memoirs. Contrary to what one would have expected they are marred by discretion and good taste. The childhood part is admirable. The adult part is rather as though Lord Montgomery were to write his life and omit to mention that he ever served in the army."[4]

    Personal life

    On 27 October 1927 she married Henry Thynne, Viscount Weymouth, who became the 6th Marquess of Bath in 1946. Neither his nor her parents approved of the marriage,[5] and they were divorced in 1953. From 1946, she was known as the Marchioness of Bath. The couple had five children:[1][5]

    After her divorce, her first husband married Virginia Penelope (née Parsons) Tennant (following her divorce from David Tennant).[6] Daphne remarried to Major Alexander Wallace Fielding, son of Alexander Lumsden Wallace, of Kirkcaldy, on 11 July 1953. The couple divorced in 1978.[7]

    Fielding died on 5 December 1997.

    Works
    • Longleat from 1566 to the present time. Longleat Estate (1949)
    • Before the Sunset Fades. Longleat Estate (1951)
    • Mercury Presides. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode (1954)
    • The Adonis Garden (1961)
    • The Duchess of Jermyn Street: Rosa Lewis. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode (1964) ISBN 0-413-25190-X
    • Emerald and Nancy: Lady Cunard and Her Daughter. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode (1968) ISBN 0-413-25950-1
    • The Nearest Way Home. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode (1970)
    • The Rainbow Picnic: a portrait of Iris Tree. London: Eyre Methuen (1974) ISBN 0-413-28520-0
    • Face on the Sphinx: a portrait of Gladys Marie Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough. London: Hamish Hamilton (1978) ISBN 0-241-89314-3

    References
    1. Chisholm, Anne (2004). "Fielding, Daphne Winifred Louise Vivian (1904–1997), writer and socialite". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/68822. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
    2. Peter W. Hammond, editor, The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 72.
    3. Pippeit, Roger (17 April 1955). "Life Was Like That; MERCURY PRESIDES. By Daphne Fielding. Illustrated. 256 pp. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co. $5". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
    4. Chisholm, Anne (20 December 1997). "Obituary: Daphne Fielding: The wife of Bath's tale". The Guardian. p. 17.
    5. Vickers, Hugo (17 December 1997). "Obituary: Daphne Fielding". The Independent. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
    6. "From bohemia to a life of nobility". Sydney Morning Herald. 31 October 2003. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
    7. ""Secret marriage" appeal succeeds". Portsmouth Evening News. 27 July 1955. p. 1. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
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