Lady Idina Sackville

Idina Sackville

Lady Myra Idina Sackville (26 February 1893 – 5 November 1955) was an English aristocrat and member of the Happy Valley set. Her behaviour and lifestyle scandalised middle class society.

Life and marriages

Lady Myra Idina Sackville was the daughter of Gilbert Sackville, 8th Earl De La Warr, and Lady Muriel Agnes Brassey, daughter of Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey, and Anna Allnutt. She had two younger siblings, her sister Avice and her brother Herbrand. Her cousin was the writer Vita Sackville-West. She was known by her middle name, Idina. She married and divorced five times.

Idina Wallace, by William Orpen

At the age of 20, she married on 26 November 1913 Captain Euan Wallace, taking his name.[1] Their marriage produced two sons:

Lady Myra Idina Sackville designed Kildonan House, Barrhill, South Ayrshire with the architect James Miller[2] in homage to her childhood home. She never saw the building finished, having split from Euan Wallace before its completion.

In 1919 she divorced Wallace and married on 27 March 1919 Captain Charles Gordon, becoming Idina Gordon. Wallace took custody of their sons and Idina moved to Kenya. She and Gordon divorced in 1923, without issue, and later that year she married Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll and was thus styled the Countess of Erroll.[3] They had one child, Diana Denyse Hay (1926–78).[4]

Idina divorced Lord Erroll in 1930 and their daughter was taken home to England to be raised firstly by her uncle The Earl De La Warr and then by her aunt Lady Avice Spicer in Wiltshire. Later that year on 22 November Idina married Donald Carmichael Haldeman. They divorced in 1938, without issue.

In 1939, she married William Vincent Soltau, who died on 1 August 1964. She divorced Soltau in 1946, without issue.

Lady Idina died in 1955 at the age of 62.

The notorious Happy Valley set was depicted in White Mischief, a film dramatising the events surrounding the murder of Lady Idina's third husband Josslyn Hay, 22nd Earl of Erroll based on the book of the same name by James Fox.

Nancy Mitford based her character "the Bolter" on Lady Idina in three of her books including The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate.

Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh is also based on Lady Idina's character and lifestyle.

In the 1920s, the writer Michael Arlen wrote a book The Green Hat where the heroine Iris Storm is based on a portrait of Lady Idina Sackville. This book was turned into a movie A Woman of Affairs starring Greta Garbo.

Lady Idina's great-granddaughter through her eldest son David Wallace, Frances Osborne, wrote a biography, The Bolter, which was published in 2008 by Virago Press. The 2009 paperback edition has a revealing Afterword following a letter from Vincent Soltau's daughter, who with her brother was cared for by Lady Idina at her house 'Clouds' in Kenya for 8 years.

References

  1. ↑ The Genealogy of the Wallace Family
  2. ↑ "Kildonan House (Ref 1052)". Historic Scotland. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  3. ↑ thePeerage.com A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe
  4. ↑ Slains Castle and The Hays of Erroll, Aberdeen Civic Society Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine.

Bibliography

Fox, James (1988). White Mischief, The Murder of Lord Erroll. Vintage. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-394-75687-5.

Osborne, Frances (2008). The Bolter. Vintage. p. 368. ISBN 978-0-307-47642-5.

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