Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, (born Deborah Freeman-Mitford and latterly Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire; 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 David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale (1878–1958), son of Algernon Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, and his wife, Sydney (1880–1963), daughter of Thomas Gibson
Mitford family a different nickname for the others. Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, their political views came into sharper relief. "Farve" remained a conservative, but "Muv" usually supported her fascist daughters, and the couple separated in the late 1940s. Nancy, a moderate socialist, worked in London during the Blitz. Pamela remained seemingly non-political, although she was reportedly an anti-Semite. Tom, a fascist, refused to fight Germany but volunteered to fight against Imperial Japan; he was killed in action a short time after arriving in Asia. Diana, married to Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, was