William Kenyon Mitford was born in 1857, the son of William Townley Mitford, Conservative MP, and Hon Margaret Emma Kenyon daughter of 3rd Baron Kenyon. They were the Pitshill branch of the Mitford family living at Pilworth, Sussex. He was commissioned into the 8th Hussars in 1876 and fought in the 2nd Afghan War of 1879-80. He remained in the regiment until 1891 and was appointed CO of the Middlesex Hussars on 23 April 1892. In the Boer War he commanded 11th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. On his return from the war he was appointed CMG and to the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms. He was a JP and Deputy Lieutenant for Sussex. He was Yeomanry ADC to King Edward VII from 1904 to 1910 and to George V from 1910 to 1924. He married Cicely Maud Slade in 1886 and had two sons, William Slade Mitford and Colonel Cecil Townley Mitford-Slade. Colonel W K Mitford died in 1943.
