Clementine Churchill
Lord Temporal | |
---|---|
Life peerage 17 May 1965 – 12 December 1977 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Clementine Ogilvy Hozier 1 April 1885 London, England |
Died | 12 December 1977 London, England | (aged 92)
Resting place | St Martin's Church, Bladon |
Political party | Crossbencher |
Spouse | |
Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill,
Clementine met Churchill in 1904 and they began their marriage of 56 years in 1908. They had five children together, one of whom (named
Throughout her life she was granted many titles, the final being a life peerage following the death of her husband in 1965. In her later years, she sold several of her husband's portraits to help support herself financially. She died in her London home aged 92.
Early life
Although legally the daughter of Sir Henry Hozier and Lady Blanche Hozier (a daughter of David Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie), her paternity is a subject of much debate, as Lady Blanche was well known for infidelity. After Sir Henry found Lady Blanche with a lover in 1891, she managed to avert her husband's suit for divorce because of his own infidelities, and thereafter the couple separated.
Lady Blanche maintained that Clementine's biological father was
In the summer of 1899, when Clementine was 14, her mother moved the family to Dieppe, a coastal community in the north of France. There the family spent an idyllic summer, bathing, canoeing, picnicking, and blackberrying.[2] While in Dieppe, the family became well acquainted with 'La Colonie', or the other English inhabitants living by the sea. This group consisted of military men, writers and painters, such as Aubrey Beardsley and Walter Sickert. The latter came to be a great friend of the family.
According to Clementine's daughter, Mary Soames, Clementine was deeply struck by Sickert and thought he was the most handsome and compelling man she had ever seen.
Clementine was
Marriage and children
Clementine first met
Winston and Clementine were married on 12 September 1908 in
Politician's wife
During the
Clementine travelled to Dundee in 1922, campaigning on behalf of her husband in the 1922 general election while he was incapacitated after having his appendix removed.[14]
In the 1930s, Clementine travelled without Winston aboard
HERE LIES THE BALI DOVE
It does not do to wander
Too far from sober men.
But there’s an island yonder,
I think of it again.[15]
Clementine edited and rehearsed Churchill's speeches, as well as managing and attending high-level diplomatic summits.[16]
As the wife of a politician who often took controversial stands, Clementine was used to being snubbed and treated rudely by the wives of other politicians. However, she could take only so much. Once, traveling with
During the
In 1946, she was appointed
She was awarded honorary degrees by the University of Glasgow, University of Oxford and University of Bristol.
Later life and death
After more than 56 years of marriage, Clementine was widowed on 24 January 1965 when her husband died aged 90.
After Sir Winston's death, on 17 May 1965, she was created a
In her final few years, inflation and rising expenses left Lady Spencer-Churchill in financial difficulties and in early 1977 she sold at auction five paintings by her late husband.
Lady Spencer-Churchill died at her London home, at 7 Princes Gate, Knightsbridge, of a heart attack on 12 December 1977. She was 92 years old and had outlived her husband by almost 13 years, as well as three of her five children.
She is buried with her husband and children[a] at St Martin's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock in Oxfordshire.
Memorials
The Clementine Churchill Hospital in Harrow, Middlesex, is named after her.
A plaque on the Berkhamsted house where the young Clementine Hozier had lived during her education at Berkhamsted School for Girls was unveiled in 1979 by her youngest daughter, Baroness Soames.[22] A blue plaque also commemorates her residence there.[23]
In popular culture
Churchill was played by
She was also featured in Jack Thorne's 2023 play When Winston Went to War with the Wireless, played by Laura Rogers.[26]
Arms
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Notes
- ^ Marigold was originally interred at Kensal Green Cemetery in London and her remains were exhumed in 2019 for reburial with the family at Bladon.
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30929. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b c Soames, M. (2002). Clementine Churchill: the biography of a marriage. London, Doubleday
- ISBN 0-316-54503-1
- ^ Soames, Mary: Soames, Mary (ed.), Speaking For Themselves: the Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill (Black Swan, 1999)'. p. 1
- ISBN 0618267328. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
- ^ Soames, Mary: Soames, Mary (ed.), Speaking For Themselves: the Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill (Black Swan, 1999)', p.6
- ^ Gilbert, Martin (1991). Churchill: A Life. London: Heinemann.
- ^ Soames, Mary: Soames, Mary (ed.), Speaking For Themselves: the Personal Letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill (Black Swan, 1999)', pp. 14–15
- ^ a b Gilbert 1991, p. 200.
- ISBN 978-0-333-78290-3.
- ^ Gilbert 1991, p. 204; Jenkins 2001, p. 203.
- ISBN 0-316-54503-1
- ^ "No. 30460". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 January 1918. p. 368.
- ^ "Clementine on the campaign trail".
- ISBN 0-316-54503-1
- ISBN 978-1-108-84023-1
- ISBN 0-316-54503-1
- ISBN 0-14-008616-1.
- ^ "No. 37598". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 1946. p. 2783.
- ^ "No. 43654". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 May 1965. p. 4861.
- ^ Time magazine, 7 March 1977, p. 40
- ISSN 0882-3715. Archived from the original(PDF) on 20 February 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
- ^ Cook, John (2009). A Glimpse of our History: a short guided tour of Berkhamsted (PDF). Berkhamsted Town Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2012.
- ^ "The Crown's Dame Harriet Walter thinks Clementine Churchill would have made a brilliant politician". Evening Standard. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
- Penske Business Media. Archivedfrom the original on 11 November 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
- ^ "Donmar Warehouse reveals complete cast for "When Winston Went to War with the Wireless"". WhatsOnStage.com. 24 April 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
Sources
- OCLC 49932109.
Biographies
- ISBN 978-0349-11978-6
- Purnell, S. (2015), First Lady: The Private Wars of Clementine Churchill, Aurum Press Limited, ISBN 978-1781-31306-0
- ISBN 978-0385-60446-8
External links
- "Archival material relating to Clementine Churchill". UK National Archives.
- The Papers of Clementine Churchill. Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge
- Portraits of Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Winston & Clementine Churchill - UK Parliament Living Heritage