Birth and family[edit] a discoloured brass plaque showing the names of those local men killed in the First World War The Glenelg War Memorial, listing Valentine Fleming Ian Fleming was born on 28 May 1908, at 27 Green Street in the wealthy London district of Mayfair.[1][2] His mother was Evelyn St Croix Rose, and his father was Valentine Fleming, the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910.[3] Fleming was the grandson of the Scottish financier Robert Fleming, who founded the Scottish American Investment Trust and the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co.[1][a] In 1914, with the start of the first world war, Valentine joined C Squadron, Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars, and rose to the rank of major.[3] He was killed by German shelling on the Western Front on 20 May 1917; Winston Churchill wrote an obituary that appeared in The Times.[5] Because the family owned an estate at Arnisdale, Valentines death was commemorated on the Glenelg War Memorial.[6] Flemings elder brother Peter (1907–1971) became a travel writer and married actress Celia Johnson.[7] Peter served with the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War, was later commissioned under Colin Gubbins to help establish the Auxiliary Units, and became involved in behind-the-lines operations in Norway and Greece during the war.[7] Fleming also had two younger brothers, Michael (1913–1940) and Richard (1911–1977), and a younger maternal half-sister born out of wedlock, cellist Amaryllis Fleming (1925–1999), whose father was the artist Augustus John.[8] Amaryllis was conceived during a long-term affair between John and Evelyn Fleming that started in 1923, some six years after the death of Valentine Fleming.[9] Education and early life
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 08:40:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015