Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr.

Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr.
Nickname(s)	Win
Born	(1888-09-20)September 20, 1888 Kinsley, Kansas
Died	May 29, 1950(1950-05-29) (aged 61) Coronado, California
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Navy
Rank	Commander
Commands held	Naval Air Station, North Island

Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr. (1920)

Commander Earl Winfield Spencer, Jr. (September 20, 1888 – May 29, 1950) was a pioneering U.S. Navy pilot who served as the first commanding officer of Naval Air Station, San Diego. He was the first husband of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor. He was portrayed by actor Ryan Hayward in W.E., the 2011 British romantic drama film about the love of Wallis and King Edward VIII co-written and directed by Madonna.^[1]

Early life and military career

Known as Win, he was born in Kinsley, Kansas, son of Earl Winfield Spencer and the former Agnes Lucy Hughes. He attended Racine College in Racine, Wisconsin.^[2] He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1910 and in 1917 was sent to San Diego with instructions to set up a permanent naval air station, which was to be used for training exercises, and he became its first Commanding Officer.^[3]

Personal life

Spencer was married four times. His wives were:

• Bessie Wallis Warfield (1896–1986), only child of Teackle Wallis Warfield, member of a prominent Maryland family; they married in Baltimore on November 8, 1916. Spencer was alleged to be abusive and an alcoholic. After several separations, the Spencers divorced in December 1927. After a second marriage, to Ernest Simpson, and a subsequent divorce, Wallis Spencer married the former King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom and became the Duchess of Windsor.

• Mariam Caro Maze (1895-1997), the former wife of Albert Cressey Maze (1891-1943) and a daughter of Simon Caro.^[4] They married after 1927 and were divorced in 1936, the same year Spencer was made a Knight of the Order of the Crown of Italy by Benito Mussolini.^[5] By this marriage he had one stepson, Robert Claude Maze Sr., Major, USMC (killed in action, 1945).^[6] Mariam Spencer married, in 1939, as her third husband, Arthur William Radford, Vice Admiral, USN, future Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.^[7]

• Norma Johnson (1892–?), the widow of Homer Sturdevant Johnson, a Detroit manufacturer who died in 1928, and a daughter of Carl Reese. Spencer and Johnson were married in Los Angeles, California, on July 4, 1937. By this marriage he had two stepdaughters: Betty L. Johnson, an actress and songwriter (married Balie Peyton Legare, Jr. (1908-1984), a jazz musician, whom she divorced in 1942) and Kathryne Johnson (born circa 1912, married Dell Myron Wade Jr). The Spencers' wedding was a double wedding with Betty and Peyton Legare, whose wedding in February 1942 in Tijuana, Mexico, was not valid under California law and needed to be resolemnized.^[8][9] The couple separated on February 9, 1940 and were divorced later that year in Santa Monica, California. Both parties charged cruelty, and Norma declared that her husband was plagued by what The New York Times's announcement of their acrimonious divorce delicately called "habitual intemperance." Time magazine reported, "During a stormy session of accusations and counteraccusations Navyman Spencer, charged with cruelty and habitual intemperance, testified that his weekly liquor bill was only about $10, that his wife 'drank as much of it as I did.'"^[10]

• Lillian Phillips (1892-1981), whom he married after 1940.^[11]

Later life

Commander Spencer died in Coronado, California. He is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California, with his wife Lillian.^[12]

References