Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill

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Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill, GBE, CStJ (née Clementine Ogilvy Hozier; April 1, 1885 – December 12, 1977) was the wife of Sir Winston Churchill. Her middle name "Ogilvy" was for her mother's maiden name; upon marriage, her middle name remained unchanged.

Clementine was born in London to The Lady Blanche Henrietta Hozier (1852–1925), daughter of the 10th Earl of Airlie and second wife of Sir Henry Montague Hozier (1838–1907). Clementine's paternity, however, is a subject of some debate. Lady Blanche was well known for sharing her favours. After Sir Henry found Lady Blanche with a lover in 1891, she managed to avert her husband's suit for divorce due to Sir Henry's own infidelities, and thereafter separated from her husband. She maintained that Clementine's biological father was Capt. William George "Bay" Middleton, a noted horseman. Clementine's biographer, Joan Hardwick, has surmised (due in part to Sir Henry Hozier's reputed sterility) that all Lady Blanche's "Hozier" children were actually fathered by her sister's husband, Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford (1837–1916, better known as a grandfather of the notorious Mitford sisters of the 1920s). Whatever her true paternity, Clementine is recorded as being the daughter of Lady Blanche and Sir Henry.

Clementine was educated first at home, and later at Berkhamsted School for Girls (now Berkhamsted Collegiate School) and at the Sorbonne in Paris.

On 12 September 1908, at St. Margaret's, Westminster, Clementine married Sir Winston Churchill. Together they had five children: Diana (1909-63); Randolph (1911-68); Sarah (1914-82); Marigold (1918-21); and Mary (1922- ).

Contents 1 World War I 2 World War II 3 After the war 4 Titles from birth to death 5 References

[edit] World War I

After her marriage, during World War I, Clementine Churchill organised canteens for munitions workers on behalf of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in the North East Metropolitan Area of London.

[edit] World War II

During World War II she was Chairman of the Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund, the President of the Young Women's Christian Association War Time Appeal and the Chairman of Fulmer Chase Maternity Hospital for Wives of Junior Officers. The Clementine Churchill Hospital in Harrow, Middlesex is named after her.

[edit] After the war

After the war she was awarded honorary degrees by the University of Glasgow and Oxford University and later, in 1976, by Bristol University. In 1965, she was created a life peer as Baroness Spencer-Churchill, of Chartwell in the County of Kent.

Lady Spencer-Churchill died in London at the age of 92, she is buried with her husband and deceased children at St Martin's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock in Oxfordshire. Only after her death was it discovered that she had destroyed the famous Graham Sutherland portrait of her husband because she did not like it.

[edit] Titles from birth to death

From	To	Name
1 April 1885	2 September 1908	Miss Clementine Hozier
2 September 1908	1946	Mrs. Winston Churchill
1946	24 April 1953	Dame Clementine Churchill, GBE[1]
24 April 1953	17 May 1965	Lady Churchill, GBE
17 May 1965	12 December 1977	The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Spencer-Churchill, GBE

[edit] References