Record

CodeDS/UK/1779
NameMosley; Lady; Cynthia Blanche ' Cimmie' (1898-1933); British politician
Dates1898-1933
GenderFemale
BiographyLady Cynthia Blanche ("Cimmie") Mosley (23 August 1898 – 16 May 1933) was a British politician of Anglo-American parentage and the first wife of the Conservative and Labour MP and British fascist Sir Oswald Mosley

Born Cynthia Blanche Curzon at Kedleston Hall, she was the second daughter of Hon. George Curzon (created Marquess Curzon of Kedleston in 1921) and his first wife, Mary Victoria Leiter, an American department-store heiress. As the daughter of a Marquess, she was styled Lady Cynthia.

On 11 May 1920, Cynthia married the then-Conservative politician, Oswald Mosley. They had three children: Vivien Elizabeth Mosley, Nicholas Mosley, 3rd Baron Ravensdale, a successful novelist who wrote a biography of his father and edited his memoirs for publication; and Michael Mosley.

After both joined the Labour Party in 1924, she was elected Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent in 1929 and her husband was elected for Smethwick at the same time. After finding the Labour Party unsuitable, Oswald formed the New Party on 1 March 1931 and Lady Cynthia also joined. The party soon adopted fascist policies and became unpopular by the time of the sudden general election later that year. All the party's candidates in the election (including Lady Cynthia) lost their seats, mostly to Conservative politicians.

After their defeat, Lady Cynthia continued to support her husband in his fascist studies until her death in 1933 at age 34 after an operation for peritonitis following acute appendicitis, in London.

During their marriage her younger sister Alexandra was a mistress of Mosley, as was, briefly, their stepmother, Grace Curzon, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston. In 1932 he began an affair with Diana Mitford, whom he married in 1936. Diana was one of Britain's noted Mitford sisters, known for her friendship with Adolf Hitler.

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