Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill
A young Winston Churchill and fiancée Clementine Hozier shortly before their marriage in 1908.
Born	1 April 1885(1885-04-01) Mayfair, London, England
Died	12 December 1977 (aged 92) Knightsbridge, London, England
Spouse	Winston Churchill
Children	Diana, Randolph, Sarah, Marigold, Mary
Relatives	Bay Middleton (biological father) Blanche Henrietta Hozier (mother)

Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill, GBE, CStJ (née Hozier; 1 April 1885 – 12 December 1977) was the wife of Sir Winston Churchill and a life peeress in her own right.

Contents 1 Early life 2 World War I 3 World War II 4 After the war 5 Titles from birth to death 6 References

[edit] Early life

Clementine was born in Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, London to Lady Henrietta Blanche Hozier (1852–1925), daughter of the 10th Earl of Airlie and second wife of Sir Henry Montague Hozier (1838–1907); she was second among four children (three daughters, one son). 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 Winston Churchill. Together they had five children: Diana (1909–1963); Randolph (1911–1968); Sarah (1914–1982); Marigold (1918–1921); and Mary (b. 1922). Only one, the youngest, Mary, is still alive (as of 2007). None of the other four children shared anything of their parents' longevity: one child died at the age of three, and the others died in their 50s or 60s, two of these (Diana and Randolph) predeceasing their mother.

[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 May 1965, she was created a life peer as Baroness Spencer-Churchill, of Chartwell in the County of Kent. She sat as a cross-bencher, but her growing deafness precluded her taking a regular part in parliamentary life.

Lady Spencer-Churchill died in Princes Gate, Knightsbridge, London of a heart attack 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. It was stated as a clue on an episode (aired on 12 September 2007) of Jeopardy! that in the last year of her life Lady Spencer-Churchill auctioned off cherished paintings to supplement a meagre pension, but this has not been proved.^{[citation needed]}

[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	Clementine, Lady Churchill, GBE
17 May 1965	12 December 1977	The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Spencer-Churchill, GBE

[edit] References

Preceded by Anne Chamberlain	Spouse of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1940-1945	Succeeded by Violet Attlee
Preceded by Violet Attlee	Spouse of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1951-1955	Succeeded by Clarissa Eden

v • d • e Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Winston Churchill as historian · Winston Churchill as writer · Winston Churchill in politics: 1900-1939 · Honours of Winston Churchill · Later life of Winston Churchill · Chartwell · Blenheim Palace · St Martin's Church, Bladon Writings The Story of the Malakand Field Force · Savrola · The River War · London to Ladysmith via Pretoria · Ian Hamilton's March · Lord Randolph Churchill · The World Crisis · My Early Life · Marlborough: His Life and Times · The Second World War · A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Speeches Blood, toil, tears, and sweat · This was their finest hour · Never was so much owed by so many to so few · We shall fight on the beaches  · Be Ye Men of Valour Family Father: Lord Randolph Churchill · Mother: Jennie Churchill · Brother: John Strange Spencer-Churchill · Wife: Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill · Children: Diana · Randolph · Sarah · Marigold · Mary