To War with Whitaker: Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly, 1939–45

by Hermione Ranfurly, Countess of Ranfurly

Hardcover, 1994

Status

Available

Call number

940.548141

Genres

Collections

Your library, Primary Sources

Publication

William Heinemann, London

Description

Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly, kept a diary all her life. To War with Whitaker is an account of the most adventurous, most defiant and most valiant of those years. Hermione and Dan Ranfurly married only months before the Second World War erupted. So when Dan was posted to the Middle East, taking their faithful butler Whitaker with him, Hermione resolved to join them there. This memoir offers astounding displays of commitment and independence. After vowing not to go home without her husband, Hermione travelled alone from Cape Town to Cairo, and remained in the Middle East and North Africa for the two and a half years he was imprisoned by the Germans - meeting many notable characters along the way.With wit and exuberance, Hermione's diary entries take us To War with Whitaker and back again, providing sharp insight into the strong and outspoken woman she was.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member seoulful

It is difficult to hold down my enthusiasm and superlatives in reviewing this book. The author is not only an excellent writer and editor of her diaries, but also modestly understates her tremendous courage and her willingness to endure hardship for the sake of working near her active-duty husband.

Born aristocratic and married to Lord Ranfurly, Countess Ranfurly chronicles in this book her life from 1939-1945 spent mostly in the middle east working as secretary to a Brithish general. She met in the course of her duties many interesting people of note and gives insight into the characters of each. She was a woman of immense charm and determination. When all wives were ordered back to England, she jumped ship in South Africa and made her way up the coast of Africa with the help of her connections, to arrive as an outlaw in Cairo. Her husband, Lord Ranfurly, with the same finely honed character as his wife, was captured by the Germans in North Africa and imprisoned for almost three years before he escaped and made his way back to Allied lines. Hermione Ranfurly vowed to stay in the middle east until his release despite often harsh working conditions. Besides her stenographic duties, she entertained visiting VIPs, took Gen. Patton shopping, smoothed ruffled feathers with her tact and amazingly with her social position was unfailingly courteous and mindful of military rank. Whitaker was Lord Ranfurly's valet and followed and cared for Lord or Lady as circumstances permitted, but played a minor role in the diaries. A fascinating account of one highly exceptional person's role in WWII.

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LibraryThing member tnilsson

A very unique, warm, and personal view of WWII from a perspective that you won't find anywhere else. The Countess sounds like someone who would have been delightful to have known. Very much recommended.

LibraryThing member expatscot

Find it and read it.

If you have no interest in war, then it's a travelogue, a tale of derring-do by a plucky young lady, a tale of love and/or a historical snapshot of time, place and class.

If you know anything at all about WWII and particularly the North African, Middle-Eastern, Italian, Greek,

Yugoslav or just Mediterranean theatres, then be prepared to read it open-mouthed with your phone in hand to check that the person she's just mentioned is who you think they are - on every page.

And it's an eminently readable story to boot.

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