Lady Randolph Churchill | |
|---|---|
_(A).jpg) Photograph byJosé María Mora, 1880s | |
| Born | Jeanette Jerome (1854-01-09)9 January 1854 Brooklyn, New York State, U.S. |
| Died | 29 June 1921(1921-06-29) (aged 67) London, England |
| Buried | St Martin's Church, Bladon |
| Spouses | |
| Issue | |
| Father | Leonard Jerome |
| Mother | Clarissa Hall |
JennieJeromeChurchill[a][1]CI RRC DStJ (bornJeanette Jerome; later Mrs.Cornwallis-West; 9 January 1854[2] – 29 June 1921), known asLady Randolph Spencer-Churchill,[b] was an American-born British socialite, the wife ofLord Randolph Churchill, and the mother of British prime ministerWinston Churchill.
Jennie published hermemoirs in 1908. In 1909, her theatrical playHis Borrowed Plumes debuted inThe Globe Theatre. AlthoughMrs Patrick Campbell produced and took the lead role in the play, it was a commercial failure.[3] Jennie served as the chair of the hospital committee for theAmerican Women's War Relief Fund, starting in 1914.[4][5] Her organization helped fund and staff two hospitals duringWorld War I.[6]
Jeanette Jerome was born in theCobble Hill section ofBrooklyn in 1854,[7] the second of four daughters (one died in childhood) of financier, sportsman, and speculatorLeonard Jerome and his wife Clarissa "Clara",[8] daughter of Ambrose Hall, a landowner. Jerome's father was ofHuguenot extraction, his forebears having emigrated to America from theIsle of Wight in 1710.[9] Hall family lore insists that Jennie hadIroquois ancestry through her maternal grandmother;[10] however, there is no research or evidence to corroborate this.[11]She was raised inBrooklyn,[c] Manhattan, Paris and London. She had two surviving sisters, Clarita (1851–1935) and Leonie (1859–1943). Another sister, Camille (1855–1863) died when Jennie was nine.[12]
There is some disagreement regarding the time and place of her birth. A plaque at 426 Henry St. gives her year of birth as 1850, not 1854. However, on 9 January 1854, the Jeromes lived nearby at number 8 Amity Street (since renumbered as 197). It is believed that the Jeromes were temporarily staying at the Henry Street address, which was owned by Leonard's brother Addison, and that Jennie was born there during a snowstorm.[13]
Jerome was a talented amateur pianist, having been tutored as a girl byStephen Heller, a friend ofChopin. Heller believed that his young pupil was good enough to attain "concert standard" with the necessary "hard work", of which, according to author Mary S. Lovell, he was not confident she was capable.[14]
She was a noted beauty; an admirer,Lord d'Abernon, said that there was "more of the panther than of the woman in her look."[15]
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Jerome was married for the first time on 15 April 1874, aged 20, at theBritish Embassy in Paris, toLord Randolph Churchill, the third son ofJohn Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, andLady Frances Vane.[16] The couple had met at a sailing regatta on theIsle of Wight in August 1873, having been introduced by the Prince of Wales, the futureKing Edward VII.[17]
Although they became engaged within three days of this initial meeting, the marriage was delayed for months while their parents argued over settlements.[18] By this marriage, she was properly known as 'Lady Randolph Churchill' and would have been addressed in conversation as Lady Randolph.
The Churchills had two sons:Winston (1874–1965), andJohn (1880–1947). Winston, the future prime minister, was born less than eight months after the marriage. Amongst his biographers, there are varied opinions on whether he was conceived before the marriage (notablyWilliam Manchester), or born two months prematurely after Lady Randolph "had a fall".[19] When asked about the circumstances of his birth, Winston Churchill replied: "Although present on the occasion, I have no clear recollection of the events leading up to it".[18] Rumours also circulated about the parentage of Winston's younger brother John, as Lady Randolph's sisters initially believed that the biological father of the second son,John (1880–1947), wasEvelyn Boscawen, 7th Viscount Falmouth,[20] although that was mostly discredited due to the boys' striking likeness to Randolph Churchill and to each other.
Lady Randolph is believed to have had numerous lovers during her marriage, including the Prince of Wales,Milan I of Serbia,Prince Karl Kinsky, andHerbert von Bismarck.[21]
As was the custom of the day in her social class, Lady Randolph played a limited role in her sons' upbringing, relying largely upon nannies, especiallyElizabeth Everest. Winston worshipped his mother, writing her numerous letters during his time at school and begging her to visit him, which she rarely did. He wrote about her inMy Early Life: "She shone for me like the evening star. I loved her dearly – but at a distance". After he became an adult, they became good friends and strong allies, to the point where Winston regarded her almost as a political mentor, and "on even terms, more like brother and sister than mother and son".[22]
Lady Randolph was well-respected and influential in the highest British social and political circles. She was said to be intelligent, witty, and quick to laughter. It was said thatQueen Alexandra especially enjoyed her company, although Lady Randolph had been involved in an affair with her husband the king, which was well known to Alexandra.[23] Through her family contacts and her extramarital romantic relationships, Lady Randolph greatly helped her husband's early career, as well as that of her son Winston.
Lord Randolph died in 1895, aged 45.
Lord Randolph's death freed Jennie to move on effortlessly despite her lack of money; she mixed in the highest London society circles. Attending a weekend party in July 1898 hosted byDaisy Warwick, Jennie was introduced toGeorge Cornwallis-West, a captain in theScots Guards who was just 16 days older than her own son Winston; he was instantly smitten, and they spent much time together. Cornwallis-West and Jennie were married on 28 July 1900 atSt Paul's Church, Knightsbridge.[24]
In 1908, she wrote her memoirs,The Reminiscences of Lady Randolph Churchill.
Cornwallis-West doted on Jennie, amorously nicknaming her "pussycat". However, they drifted apart and Cornwallis-West, who was a financial failure inthe City, slowly fell out of love with his wife, who was old enough to be his mother. Short of money, Jennie contemplated selling the family home inHertfordshire to move into theRitz Hotel inPiccadilly. Cornwallis-West was in fragile health, and recuperated at the Swiss skiing resort ofSt Moritz. Jennie took to writing plays for theWest End, in many of which the star wasMrs. Patrick Campbell.
In 1909, when American impresarioCharles Frohman became sole manager ofThe Globe Theatre, the first production wasHis Borrowed Plumes, written by Jennie. AlthoughMrs Patrick Campbell produced and took the lead role in the play, it was a commercial failure. It was at this point that Campbell began an affair with Jennie’s husband, George Cornwallis-West.[25]
Jennie separated from Cornwallis-West in 1912, and they were divorced in April 1914, whereupon Cornwallis-West married Mrs. Campbell. Jennie dropped the surnameCornwallis-West, and resumed, bydeed poll, the nameLady Randolph Churchill.[26]
On 1 June 1918 she was married for a third time, toMontagu Phippen Porch (1877–1964), a member of theBritish Civil Service in Nigeria, who was younger than her son Winston by three years. At the end ofWorld War I, Porch resigned from the colonial service. After Jennie's death, in 1921, he returned to West Africa, where his business investments had proven successful.[27]
Around 1900, Jennie became well known for chartering the hospital shipMaine[28] to care for those wounded in theSecond Boer War.[29] She headed the effort to charter the ship in partnership with two American-born socialites residing in London:Jennie Goodell Blow andFanny Ronalds.[30][31][32] For this work, she was awarded the decoration of theRoyal Red Cross (RRC) in the South Africa Honours list published on 26 June 1902.[29] She received the decoration in person from KingEdward VII on 2 October 1902 during a visit toBalmoral Castle.[33]
Jennie served as the chair of the hospital committee for theAmerican Women's War Relief Fund starting in 1914.[4][5] This organization helped fund and staff two hospitals duringWorld War I.[6]
In May 1921, while Montagu Porch was away in Africa, Jennie slipped while coming down a friend's staircase wearing new high-heeled shoes, breaking her ankle.Gangrene set in, and her left leg was amputated above the knee on 10 June. At age 67, she died at her home at 8 Westbourne Street in London on 29 June, following ahaemorrhage of an artery in her thigh resulting from the amputation.[34][35]
She was buried in the Churchill family plot atSt Martin's Church, Bladon, Oxfordshire, next to herfirst husband.
The invention of theManhattan cocktail is sometimes attributed to Jennie Churchill, who supposedly asked a bartender to make a special drink to celebrate the election ofSamuel J. Tilden to the New York governorship in 1874. However, there is some dispute over whether the drink was invented by theManhattan Club (an association of New York Democrats) on that occasion, if Jennie promoted the idea, or if it was misattributed.[citation needed]
During the 2014-2015 exhibition at London's National Portrait Gallery, she was featured among the high-profile American heiresses to marry into British aristocracy.[36] Also included in the exhibition wereMargaret Leiter (married to the19th Earl of Suffolk),Mary Leiter (married to the1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston),May Cuyler (married toSir Philip Grey Egerton, 12th Bt),Consuelo Yznaga (married to the8th Duke of Manchester),Consuelo Vanderbilt (married to the9th Duke of Marlborough and toJacques Balsan),Laura Charteris (married to the10th Duke of Marlborough) andCornelia Martin (married to the4th Earl of Craven).[37]
The date recorded in the family Bible, although put in some years later, was made by Leonard Jerome's cousin, Margaret Middleton, an historian for the Daughters of the American Revolution and an accomplished genealogist. She unquestionably checked her facts with the immediate family. Further confirmation of the 1854 birth-date comes from a letter Jennie wrote to her husband on January 8, 1883, thanking him for a present: "Just in time for my birthday tomorrow—29 my dear; but I shall not acknowledge it to the world. 26 is quite enough.
