MOSLEY’S WOMEN

The BUF had a strong female following

DIANA MITFORD

The third of six Mitford sisters was married to

Bryan Guinness, heir to the brewing company of the same name, when she began an affair with

Mosley. She divorced her husband and began appearing alongside Mosley in public soon after, eventually marrying him secretly at the home of Joseph Goebbels in Berlin in 1936. Hitler attended the wedding.

UNITY MITFORD

Unity joined the BUF along with her sister Diana in

1933. The pair travelled to Germany and Unity aggressively pursued a chance to meet Hitler.

When she did finally become acquainted with the Führer, they apparently built a close friendship. She attempted suicide in 1939, and though she survived she never fully recovered and died in 1948.

MARY RICHARDSON

Born in England and raised in Canada, Richardson had joined what she called “a Holy Crusade” of the women’s suffrage movement in 1910. She was arrested nine times and served time in Holloway Prison for attacking a police officer. She joined Mosley’s BUF in 1932, seeing some of the same commitment to action she had found in the militant suffragettes.

MARY SOPHIA ALLEN

Allen had been one of

Britain’s first female police officers. Prior to this she’d been in the

Women’s Political and

Social Union and had been arrested numerous times for her part in their protests. She claimed she joined the BUF for its anti-war stance, but was a regular visitor to Germany and supporter of Franco in Spain.