Margot Asquith

An Autobiography Margot Asquith

Extract: I was born in the country of Hogg and Scott between the Yarrow and the Tweed, in the year 1864. I am one of twelve children, but I only knew eight, as the others died when I was young. My eldest sister Pauline-or Posie, as we called her-was born in 1855 and married on my tenth birthday one of the best of men, Thomas Gordon Duff. [Footnote: Thomas Gordon Duff, of Drummuir Castle, Keith.] She died of tuberculosis, the cruel disease by which my family have all been pursued. We were too different in age and temperament to be really intimate, but her goodness, patience and pluck made a deep impression on me. My second sister, Charlotte, was born in 1858 and married, when I was thirteen, the present Lord Ribblesdale, in 1877. She was the only member of the family-except my brother Edward Glenconner- who was tall. My mother attributed this-and her good looks-to her wet-nurse, Janet Mercer, a mill-girl at Innerleithen, noted for her height and beauty. Charty-as we called her-was in some ways the most capable of us all, but she had not Laura's genius, Lucy's talents, nor my understanding. She had wonderful grace and less vanity than any one that ever lived; and her social courage was a perpetual joy. Emma Alice Margaret Asquith, comtesse d'Oxford et Asquith, née Emma Alice Margaret Tennan le 2 février 1864 dans le Peeblesshire et morte le 28 juillet 1945 à Londres, connue sous le nom de Margot Asquith, est une socialite anglo-écossaise, auteure et diariste. Elle était réputée pour ses mots d'esprit. Elle s'est mariée en 1894 avec Herbert Henry Asquith, Premier ministre du Royaume-Uni.