| Administrative History | Katharine Maud Edwards-Heathcote, daughter of Capt. Justinian Edwards-Heathcote of Apedale Hall, Staffordshire and his wife Eleanor, was born 2 Jan 1873. She married Oswald Mosley, 5th baronet 12 Dec 1895, and had three children, Oswald Ernald, 6th baronet, born 1896, Edward Heathcote, born 1899, and John Arthur Noel, born 1901. She and her husband spent some of their married life at the Mosley family home, Rolleston Hall, but seem to have moved around a lot, even living in Ireland for a time during 1898. They separated when her eldest son, Oswald, was about five years old, but did not divorce. After this separation Maud lived at Market Drayton, Shropshire, close to Rolleston, and her children were in regular contact with their Mosley grandfather; they saw their own father less frequently. In later life, Maud had a flat in London at 9 Wilbraham Place. She supported her son, Oswald, in his political career from the time of his first election as MP for Harrow in 1918, and occasionally appears to have made speeches at his meetings. On his marriage to Cynthia Curzon she appears to have ceased her practical involvement, but after Cynthia's death in 1933, Maud took a more active role in her son's political life. She was involved in the organisation of the British Union of Fascists, and for a time was leader of its Women's Section. She led marches and attended public meetings, and according to Nicholas Mosley's biography of his father, 'Beyond the Pale', she travelled round provincial branches of the B.U.F to raise morale. She continued to provide moral support for her son during the time he was imprisoned under Defence Regulations 18B during the Second World War. She died in 1950.
Sources: Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 1938; Nicholas Mosley, The Rules of the Game: Sir Oswald and Lady Cynthia Mosley, 1896-1933, 1982; Nicholas Mosley, Beyond the Pale: Sir Oswald Mosley and Family, 1933-1980, 1983. |