Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill
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The Right Honourable The Baroness Spencer-Churchill GBE CStJ |
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Clementine Churchill in 1915
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| Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
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In role 10 May 1940 – 27 July 1945 |
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| Monarch | George VI |
| Preceded by | Anne Chamberlain |
| Succeeded by | Violet Attlee |
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In role 26 October 1951 – 7 April 1955 |
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| Monarch |
George VI Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Violet Attlee |
| Succeeded by | Clarissa Eden |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Clementine Ogilvy Hozier 1 April 1885 Mayfair, London, England |
| Died | 12 December 1977 (aged 92) Knightsbridge, London, England |
| Spouse(s) | Winston Churchill (m. 1908–65) |
| Children |
Diana Churchill Randolph Churchill Sarah Tuchet-Jesson, Lady Audley Marigold Churchill Mary Soames, Baroness Soames |
| Mother | Blanche Henrietta Hozier |
| Father | Henry Montague Hozier |
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.
Although legally the daughter of Henry Montague Hozier and Lady Blanche Hozier (a daughter of David Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie), her paternity is a subject of much debate, as Lady Blanche was well known for infidelity. After Sir Henry found Lady Blanche with a lover in 1891, she managed to avert her husband's suit for divorce due to his own infidelities, and thereafter the couple separated. Lady Blanche maintained that Clementine's biological father was Capt. William George "Bay" Middleton, a noted horseman; Mary Soames, Clementine's youngest child, believed this. However, 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, 1st Baron Redesdale (1837–1916), better known as a grandfather of the famous Mitford sisters of the 1920s. Whatever her true paternity, Clementine is recorded as being the daughter of Lady Blanche and Sir Henry.
In the summer of 1899, when Clementine was fourteen, her mother moved the family to Dieppe. There the family spent an idyllic summer; bathing, canoeing, picnicking, and blackberrying filled the happy days. While in Dieppe the family became well acquainted with ‘La Colonie’, or the other English inhabitants living by the sea. This group consisted of military men, writers and painters, such as Aubrey Beardsley and Walter Sickert, the latter who came to be a great friend of the family. According to Clementine's daughter, Mary Soames, Clementine was deeply struck by Mr Sickert and thought he was the most handsome and compelling man she had ever seen. The Hoziers' happy life in France soon came to an end when Kitty, the eldest daughter, became ill with typhoid fever. Blanche Hozier decided that the best thing to do would be to send Clementine and her sister Nellie to Scotland, so she could devote her time completely to Kitty. Kitty died on 5 March 1900.
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