Winston Churchill

The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, FRS PC (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. At various times a soldier, journalist, author and politician, Churchill is generally regarded as one of the most important leaders in British and world history. He won the 1953 Nobel Prize in literature.

Family

On 2 September 1908 at the socially desirable St. Margaret's, Westminster, Churchill married Clementine Hozier, a dazzling but largely penniless beauty whom he met at a dinner party that March (he had proposed to actress Ethel Barrymore but was turned down). They had five children: Diana; Randolph; Sarah, who co-starred with Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding; Marigold, who died in early childhood; and Mary, who has written a book on her parents.

Related Topics:
2 September - 1908 - St. Margaret's, Westminster - Clementine Hozier - Ethel Barrymore - Diana - Randolph - Sarah - Fred Astaire - Royal Wedding - Marigold - Mary

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Clementine's mother was Lady Blanche Henrietta Ogilvy, second wife of Sir Henry Montague Hozier and a daughter of the 7th Earl of Airlie. Clementine's paternity, however, is open to healthy debate. Lady Blanche was well-known for sharing her favours and was eventually divorced as a result. She maintained that Clementine's father was Capt. William George "Bay" Middleton, a noted horseman. But Clementine's biographer Joan Hardwick has surmised, due 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, better known as a grandfather of the infamous Mitford sisters of the 1920s.

Related Topics:
Blanche Henrietta Ogilvy - Henry Montague Hozier - Earl of Airlie - Capt. William George "Bay" Middleton - Joan Hardwick - Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford - Mitford sisters

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Churchill's son Randolph and his grandsons Nicholas Soames and Winston all followed him into Parliament.

Related Topics:
Nicholas Soames - Winston - Parliament

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When not in London on government business, Churchill usually lived at his beloved Chartwell House in Kent, two miles south of Westerham. He and his wife bought the house in 1922 and lived there until his death in 1965. During his Chartwell stays, he enjoyed writing there, as well as painting, bricklaying, and admiring the estate's famous black swans.

Related Topics:
London - Chartwell House - Kent - Westerham - 1922 - 1965

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