 |
|
|
|
|
The Great Duke
Churchill's ancestor John Churchill (1650-1722), first Duke of Marlborough, was one of the most successful generals in English history. Never defeated on the battlefield in any major engagement, his greatest triumphs came on the European continent during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714). However, he was alternately in and out of favor with his sovereigns. In spite of his many military victories, he eventually lost power and was dismissed from all of the offices he held. |
|
Related Objects
|
A British Aristocrat and an American Beauty
Winston's parents gave him a heritage in both Great Britain and the United States. Randolph Churchill was the son, though not heir, to the Duke of Marlborough, as he had an older brother to succeed to the title. His wife Jennie was christened "Jeannette" and was the second daughter of Leonard Jerome, the New York entrepreneur and founder of the American Jockey Club. Though born in Brooklyn, she was educated largely in Paris. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, their first child, was born on November 30, 1874. |
|
Related Objects
|
Randolph Churchill
Winston's father, Randolph Churchill, had a brilliant, if brief, career in British Parliamentary politics in the 1880s. He became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1886, at the age of thirty-seven, but soon resigned in the course of a party dispute. By 1894, at age forty-five, Randolph Churchill's political career was over and his health was deteriorating. He died in January 1895. The impact of his death on Winston cannot be overstated. He had lost the opportunity to prove himself to his father and now found himself the head of the family. |
|
Related Objects
|
Lady Churchill and Her Two Sons
A great beauty and social figure, Lady Randolph was a dominating if distant presence in Winston's childhood. In his own account of his early life, he compares her to a "fairy princess" and the Evening Star, and admits, "I loved her dearly--but at a distance." John, Winston's brother, was his junior by six years, but the two were always very close. John, known as Jack, is described as the "baby" in some of Winston's earliest letters to his mother and father. Lacking his older brother's political ambitions, Jack had a good brain for business. |
|
Related Objects
|
Winston's Childhood
As was the prevailing custom in upper-class British circles, Winston and Jack were entrusted to the care of a nanny and were sent to a succession of boarding schools. Churchill's parents were occupied with high society and did not spend a great deal of time with their sons. Young Winston was sometimes rebellious and often in trouble. He was not as bad a pupil as he subsequently claimed, but neither was he particularly distinguished academically. |
|
Related Objects
|
Clementine
Winston met Clementine Hozier for the first time in 1904, but the flame of romance was ignited at their second meeting in April 1908. After this second encounter, Winston threw himself into a lightning courtship. Just four months later, on Tuesday August 11, 1908, he chose the grounds of Blenheim Palace as the backdrop for his proposal. They were married one month later at Saint Margaret's Church, Westminster, in London on September 12, 1908.
The marriage was a lasting and happy one. Clementine created the stable home environment that allowed Winston to be so active. They wrote warmly to one another whenever apart but also had fiery arguments. Clementine was the critic Winston heeded above all others. Their letters often ended with drawings that illustrated their pet names. He was her "pug." She was his "cat." |
|
Related Objects
|
|
|
