# Esmond Romilly
**Esmond Romilly** (Esmond Marcus David Romilly, 1918–1941) was a British writer and anti-fascist who ran away from Wellington College as a teenager, fought with the [International Brigades](https://www.edgepedia.org/international-brigades) in the [Spanish Civil War](https://www.edgepedia.org/spanish-civil-war), and wrote *Boadilla*, a firsthand account of that battle that later served as a primary source for historians of the war. He was the first husband of [Jessica Mitford](https://www.edgepedia.org/jessica-mitford) and a nephew of Clementine Churchill, widely described as Winston Churchill's nephew, and he died in 1941 as a pilot officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force.[1](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp51778/esmond-marcus-david-romilly) • [2](https://books.google.com/books/about/Boadilla.html?hl=en&id=lurmwQEACAAJ&output=html_text)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | 10 July 1918, London, England; 30 November 1941, aged 23[3](https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/675395) |
| Military service | Pilot Officer, Royal Canadian Air Force, 58 Squadron, service number J/5677; commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 60[3](https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/675395) |
| School rebellion | Ran away from Wellington College in 1934, declared himself a Communist, and began publishing the subversive periodical *Out of Bounds* with his brother Giles[1](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp51778/esmond-marcus-david-romilly) |
| Spanish Civil War | Among the first British volunteers in the International Brigades; fought in the defense of Madrid, including the battle of Boadilla del Monte in December 1936[2](https://books.google.com/books/about/Boadilla.html?hl=en&id=lurmwQEACAAJ&output=html_text) |
| Book | *Boadilla* (1937), written on his honeymoon in France; used as a primary source by Paul Preston, Hugh Thomas, and Antony Beevor[2](https://books.google.com/books/about/Boadilla.html?hl=en&id=lurmwQEACAAJ&output=html_text) |
| Marriage | Eloped with his second cousin Jessica Mitford in early 1937 and married her on 18 May 1937[4](https://www.thepeerage.com/p7490.htm) • [5](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/esmond) |
| Family connection | Son of Bertram and Nellie Romilly (née Hozier); through his mother he was a nephew of Clementine Churchill, and was widely described as Winston Churchill's nephew[3](https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/675395) • [6](https://spectator.com/?edition=us&p=193850) |
## Family and background
Romilly was the son of Colonel Bertram Henry Samuel Romilly and Margaret Nellie Ogilvy Hozier, and the brother of Giles Romilly.[4](https://www.thepeerage.com/p7490.htm) • [3](https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/675395) His mother was a sister of [Clementine Churchill](https://www.edgepedia.org/clementine-churchill), which made him Clementine's nephew; because [Winston Churchill](https://www.edgepedia.org/winston-churchill) played the role of uncle to the wayward boy, Romilly was widely, and persistently, described as Winston's nephew.[6](https://spectator.com/?edition=us&p=193850) Nellie Romilly was also a first cousin, with a strong suggestion of half-sisterhood, of Jessica Mitford's father, David Redesdale, so the two teenagers were related on both sides of their families.[6](https://spectator.com/?edition=us&p=193850) A rumor circulated that he was Winston Churchill's illegitimate son.[2](https://books.google.com/books/about/Boadilla.html?hl=en&id=lurmwQEACAAJ&output=html_text) The brothers regularly visited the Churchills' home, [Chartwell](https://www.edgepedia.org/chartwell), during the inter-war years.[7](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9780191610806_A23588546/preview-9780191610806_A23588546.pdf)
## Wellington and *Out of Bounds*
In 1934, while a student at Wellington College, one of England's leading public schools, the 15- or 16-year-old Romilly ran away and became newsworthy in what one account calls a sensational manner.[1](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp51778/esmond-marcus-david-romilly) • [7](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9780191610806_A23588546/preview-9780191610806_A23588546.pdf) He urged public school boys to rebel against the ultraconservative political teaching of the time and demanded that the schools take a firm stand against fascism, especially the pro-Hitler rhetoric of Sir Oswald Mosley; the press chastised him as a "dangerous Red" and an "agent of Moscow."[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-08-04-op-31185-story.html) He declared himself a Communist and, with his brother Giles, began publishing the periodical *Out of Bounds*, of which only four issues appeared.[1](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp51778/esmond-marcus-david-romilly) • [9](https://seenheard.org.uk/blog/guest-blog-from-ron-schnur-8-minute-read-the-romilly-brothers/) The brothers had become convinced that Britain's economic, political, and class system was responsible for widespread public misery and that the public schools were instrumental in it.[9](https://seenheard.org.uk/blog/guest-blog-from-ron-schnur-8-minute-read-the-romilly-brothers/) The escapades led to school crises, a short stay in a remand home, and a headline in the *Daily Mail* proclaiming "red menace in public school."[9](https://seenheard.org.uk/blog/guest-blog-from-ron-schnur-8-minute-read-the-romilly-brothers/) • [10](https://new.zodml.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/epdf.pub_many-parts-the-life-and-travels-of-a-soldier-engin.pdf) He never finished school or attended a university.[9](https://seenheard.org.uk/blog/guest-blog-from-ron-schnur-8-minute-read-the-romilly-brothers/)
## Spain and *Boadilla*
Still in his teens, Romilly traveled by bicycle and boat to Spain to fight for the Republican side against Franco's insurrection, joining the International Brigades.[2](https://books.google.com/books/about/Boadilla.html?hl=en&id=lurmwQEACAAJ&output=html_text) • [9](https://seenheard.org.uk/blog/guest-blog-from-ron-schnur-8-minute-read-the-romilly-brothers/) He trained at Albacete with the other brigadists and served in the Thaelmann Battalion, taking part in the battles of Cerro de los Ángeles, Ciudad Universitaria, and Boadilla del Monte.[11](https://www.soloboadilla.es/actualidad/noticia/news/la-guerra-civil-en-boadilla-del-monte-iv-personajes/) He saw intensive front-line action in the defense of Madrid, culminating in the battle of Boadilla del Monte in December 1936, in which many of his comrades died; he was one of the two survivors of the English contingent of the International Brigades.[2](https://books.google.com/books/about/Boadilla.html?hl=en&id=lurmwQEACAAJ&output=html_text) • [12](https://gredos.usal.es/bitstream/handle/10366/120748/%3Cstrange-chars%3E?sequence=1)
His book *Boadilla*, first published in 1937, was written on his honeymoon in France after he eloped with Jessica Mitford in early 1937.[2](https://books.google.com/books/about/Boadilla.html?hl=en&id=lurmwQEACAAJ&output=html_text) The historian Hugh Thomas, author of *The Spanish Civil War*, described it as a magnificent description of the battle, and the book has served as a primary historical source for scholars including Paul Preston, Hugh Thomas, and [Antony Beevor](https://www.edgepedia.org/antony-beevor).[11](https://www.soloboadilla.es/actualidad/noticia/news/la-guerra-civil-en-boadilla-del-monte-iv-personajes/) • [2](https://books.google.com/books/about/Boadilla.html?hl=en&id=lurmwQEACAAJ&output=html_text) A 2018 annotated edition from the Clapton Press includes an introduction and three poems written in Spain by John Cornford, who died at the battle of Lopera.[2](https://books.google.com/books/about/Boadilla.html?hl=en&id=lurmwQEACAAJ&output=html_text)
## Jessica Mitford
Jessica Mitford, known in the family as Decca, had followed the scandals of the rebel Esmond from afar and felt drawn to him; they met at the home of a family cousin and, within a week of meeting in February 1937, eloped to Spain, she aged 19 and he 18.[13](https://www.lavanguardia.com/historiayvida/historia-contemporanea/20251009/11133100/rebelde-clan-mitford-jessica-marido-cambiaron-bailes-guerra-civil-espanola.html) • [6](https://spectator.com/?edition=us&p=193850) After three months of family opposition they married on 18 May 1937.[4](https://www.thepeerage.com/p7490.htm) • [14](https://books.google.com/books/about/Churchill_s_Rebels.html?hl=en&id=HCTPJ4aG6OkC&output=html_text) The newlyweds stayed a few weeks in Bayonne while Esmond wrote *Boadilla*, returning to England after the fall of Bilbao on 19 June 1937.[13](https://www.lavanguardia.com/historiayvida/historia-contemporanea/20251009/11133100/rebelde-clan-mitford-jessica-marido-cambiaron-bailes-guerra-civil-espanola.html) Their daughter Julia was born that December and died of measles the following May, at about five months old, before an effective vaccine or remedy existed.[4](https://www.thepeerage.com/p7490.htm) • [13](https://www.lavanguardia.com/historiayvida/historia-contemporanea/20251009/11133100/rebelde-clan-mitford-jessica-marido-cambiaron-bailes-guerra-civil-espanola.html) After a spell running a gambling den, having squandered his savings in France playing boule, Esmond took a job with an advertising firm as Jessica readied herself for the delivery.[15](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mitford-jessica-1917-1996) The couple moved to the United States, where their second daughter, Constancia, was born in 1941.[13](https://www.lavanguardia.com/historiayvida/historia-contemporanea/20251009/11133100/rebelde-clan-mitford-jessica-marido-cambiaron-bailes-guerra-civil-espanola.html)
## War service and death
With war approaching, Romilly trained to fly.[14](https://books.google.com/books/about/Churchill_s_Rebels.html?hl=en&id=HCTPJ4aG6OkC&output=html_text) He enlisted in the [Royal Canadian Air Force](https://www.edgepedia.org/royal-canadian-air-force) on 25 July 1940 and served as a Pilot Officer in 58 Squadron.[3](https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/675395) He was killed on 30 November 1941 at the age of 23 while on operations, and he and his crew died together when their bomber went down.[3](https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/675395) • [8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-08-04-op-31185-story.html) Accounts differ on where the aircraft was lost: a letter published in the *Los Angeles Times* places the crash in the [North Sea](https://www.edgepedia.org/north-sea), the genealogical record describes him as killed in action on a bombing raid over Germany, and the publisher's note to *Boadilla* says his plane was shot down over the Atlantic.[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-08-04-op-31185-story.html) • [4](https://www.thepeerage.com/p7490.htm) • [2](https://books.google.com/books/about/Boadilla.html?hl=en&id=lurmwQEACAAJ&output=html_text) He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial, Panel 60, and was posthumously awarded RCAF Operational Wings on 25 March 1946 in recognition of gallant service in action against the enemy.[3](https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/675395)
## Remembrance
Jessica Mitford remained in the United States, remarried the left-wing lawyer Robert Treuhaft, and pursued a career of civil rights campaigning and writing; her memoir *Hons and Rebels* (1960) records her years with Romilly.[13](https://www.lavanguardia.com/historiayvida/historia-contemporanea/20251009/11133100/rebelde-clan-mitford-jessica-marido-cambiaron-bailes-guerra-civil-espanola.html) • [16](https://www.countrylife.co.uk/people/a-duchess-a-nazi-and-a-socialist-walked-into-a-room-the-celebrated-and-scandalous-mitford-sisters-reunited) His friend Philip Toynbee wrote a memoir of him, *Friends Apart: A Memoir of Esmond Romilly and Jasper Ridley in the Thirties* (1954), and the full-length biography *Rebel: The Short Life of Esmond Romilly* by an author cited as Ingram appeared in London in 1985.[17](https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/api/core/bitstreams/6c3fbc7c-14b8-4d4a-be91-114a70b6e0a6/content) Meredith Whitford's *Churchill's Rebels: Jessica Mitford and Esmond Romilly* (2014) drew on unpublished documents and family sources from both the Churchill Archives in England and Jessica's papers in America.[14](https://books.google.com/books/about/Churchill_s_Rebels.html?hl=en&id=HCTPJ4aG6OkC&output=html_text) • [18](https://themitfordsociety.wordpress.com/tag/esmond-romilly/) The National Portrait Gallery holds three 1934 portrait photographs of Esmond and Giles Romilly by Howard Coster.[1](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp51778/esmond-marcus-david-romilly)
## References
1. [Esmond Marcus David Romilly, National Portrait Gallery](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp51778/esmond-marcus-david-romilly)
2. [Boadilla, by Esmond Romilly and John Cornford, The Clapton Press, 2018, Google Books](https://books.google.com/books/about/Boadilla.html?hl=en&id=lurmwQEACAAJ&output=html_text)
3. [Pilot Officer Esmond Mark David Romilly, Canadian Virtual War Memorial, Veterans Affairs Canada](https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/675395)
4. [Esmond Marcus David Romilly, The Peerage](https://www.thepeerage.com/p7490.htm)
5. [Esmond, Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/esmond)
6. [Mark McGinness, "Jessica Mitford and Esmond Romilly – crusaders, chancers, spongers," The Spectator, 2 October 2014](https://spectator.com/?edition=us&p=193850)
7. [Preview of 0198206267 (Churchill biography), pageplace.de](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9780191610806_A23588546/preview-9780191610806_A23588546.pdf)
8. [Phillip Rock, "Esmond Romilly," Los Angeles Times, 4 August 1996](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-08-04-op-31185-story.html)
9. [Ron Schnur, "The Romilly Brothers," Seen & Heard](https://seenheard.org.uk/blog/guest-blog-from-ron-schnur-8-minute-read-the-romilly-brothers/)
10. [My School Years in England, 1925–35](https://new.zodml.org/sites/default/files/2023-07/epdf.pub_many-parts-the-life-and-travels-of-a-soldier-engin.pdf)
11. ["La Guerra Civil en Boadilla del Monte (IV): personajes," Solo Boadilla](https://www.soloboadilla.es/actualidad/noticia/news/la-guerra-civil-en-boadilla-del-monte-iv-personajes/)
12. [Universidad de Salamanca thesis on British writers in the Spanish Civil War](https://gredos.usal.es/bitstream/handle/10366/120748/%3Cstrange-chars%3E?sequence=1)
13. ["La rebelde del clan Mitford," La Vanguardia, 9 October 2025](https://www.lavanguardia.com/historiayvida/historia-contemporanea/20251009/11133100/rebelde-clan-mitford-jessica-marido-cambiaron-bailes-guerra-civil-espanola.html)
14. [Churchill's Rebels: Jessica Mitford & Esmond Romilly, Meredith Whitford, Umbria Press, 2014, Google Books](https://books.google.com/books/about/Churchill_s_Rebels.html?hl=en&id=HCTPJ4aG6OkC&output=html_text)
15. [Jessica Mitford (1917–1996), Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mitford-jessica-1917-1996)
16. ["A duchess, a Nazi and a socialist walked into a room," Country Life](https://www.countrylife.co.uk/people/a-duchess-a-nazi-and-a-socialist-walked-into-a-room-the-celebrated-and-scandalous-mitford-sisters-reunited)
17. [University of Cambridge repository, thesis citing Ingram, Rebel: The Short Life of Esmond Romilly (1985) and Toynbee, Friends Apart (1954)](https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/api/core/bitstreams/6c3fbc7c-14b8-4d4a-be91-114a70b6e0a6/content)
18. [The Mitford Society, tag: Esmond Romilly](https://themitfordsociety.wordpress.com/tag/esmond-romilly/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Historical methods and broad narratives › Modern and contemporary history by region › Soviet and communist history*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license