My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleymonument testifying to this fact still stands in Didsbury Church near Manchester. Amore beautiful monument to another member of the family in a slightly later periodcan also be found in Rolleston Church. This marks the division of the Mosleys at thattime between the earlier Lancashire branch and the migrants to Rolleston,Staffordshire, in the late Elizabethan period. They all seemed to have joined togethera little later for the Civil War in the Royalist cause.Throughout, a certain diversity occurred between the Staffordshire owners ofagricultural land with a substantial farming tradition and the remaining Lancashirefamily who seem to have been largely engaged in the early cotton trade. Thereremained however considerable interplay of interests, for the Rolleston branchderived most of their money from the land on which Manchester was built, and theLancashire family still carried on farming in the Didsbury and Chorley area. The oldfamily house at Houghend still stands, though in a very dilapidated condition. It wasabandoned long before my time, no doubt on account of the approach of Manchesterwhich disturbed the rural habits of these countrymen. When I rediscovered the houseit was sadly deserted, open to the wind and rain and stripped of panelling, staircaseand all decoration or suggestion of a home. I wandered through the deserted stablesand outhouses, which evidently came right up to the front door in the style of thesmaller French chateaux. The only living thing appeared to me in the dusk as aghostly shadow of a peacock perched on a cow-stall. I came nearer, and thought themotionless bird was stuffed, the only remaining relic of the old family life. I stroked it,and the live head turned towards me with a steady, tragic gaze of faraway memories;perhaps we should never have left?How Sir Nicholas Mosley's diverse energies and interests carried him from this quietcountry background to the position of Lord Mayor of London is a matter of legend.The job seems to have required a considerable variety of function and of quality in theincumbent. He is reported to have fitted out a privateer fleet against the Spaniards at atime when Elizabeth was at peace with Spain. The Lord Mayor's flagrant breach ofthe prevailing law was said to have been forgiven to him when the fleet returned withconsiderable booty, a substantial proportion being placed at the disposal of the pacificqueen. Again according to legend, when he appeared before her in some trepidation toexplain the situation and to offer a share in the swag, she delivered to him a familymotto instead of delivering him to the axe he had merited. The motto was Mos legemregit, which was understood to mean 'Our custom is above the law' and has beenproudly held ever since.If the legend is untrue, some explanation is required for this strange device which is,of course, so much at variance with my own habit as the present family representative,who not only keeps the law but has had frequent recurrence to the courts to requireothers to do the same. The legend is fortified by the Queen's considerable reputationfor erudition and wit, which in those days was often expressed in Latin punning. Playon the family name of Mosley is reputed to have given her such satisfaction that sheforgot to be angry. It may be that the material recompense of the booty reinforced thepurely intellectual pleasure. Who knows? To what extent do truth and legend coincide?Perhaps the most that one can say is that there was probably something in it.7 of 424