The wife and later widow of Lord Randolph Churchill, she garnered widespread attention due to her son, Sir Winston Churchill, who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1940 and 1945. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lady_Jennie_Spencer-Churchill_(1854-1921)_(B).jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lord_Randolph_Churchill_and_Lady_Jennie_Jerome_(1874)_(A).jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jennie_Churchill_with_her_sons.jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lady_Jennie_Spencer-Churchill_(1854-1921)_(A).jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lady_Jennie_Spencer-Churchill_(1854-1921)_(C).jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lady_Jennie_Spencer-Churchill_(1854-1921)_(E).jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jennie_Churchill.jpg. Attending a party hosted by Daisy Warwick, Jennie was introduced to George Cornwallis-West, a captain in the Scots Guards who was just 16 days older than Winston; he was instantly smitten, and they spent much time together. It was said that Queen 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. Born in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn in 1854, the second of four daughters of financier, sportsman, and speculator Leonard Jerome and his wife Clarissa (always called Clara ), daughter of Ambrose Hall, a landowner. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film Days of Wine and Roses (1962), and for the 1966 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her Broadway theatre performance in Wait Until Dark. American-born British wife of Lord Randolph Churchill, mother of Winston Churchill. Randolph Churchill was born at his parents' house at Eccleston Square, London, on 28 May 1911. His widow, Lady Randolph Churchill, married George Cornwallis-West in 1900, when she became known as Mrs. George Cornwallis-West. Jennie dropped the surname Cornwallis-West, and resumed, by deed poll, the name Lady Randolph Churchill. However, though the drink is believed to have been invented by the Manhattan Club (an association of New York Democrats) on that occasion; Jennie could not have been involved, as she was in Europe at the time, about to give birth to her son Winston later that month.[29]. Lady Mary Soames, Winston Churchill's last surviving child, has died at the age of 91, her family have announced. [17] although most discredited that due to the boys' striking likeness to their father and each other. She was buried in the Churchill family plot at St Martin's Church, Bladon, Oxfordshire, next to her first husband. [24] In 1908, she wrote her memoirs The Reminiscences of Lady Randolph Churchill. Bio: Jeanette, Lady Randolph Churchill, CI was an American-born British socialite, the wife of Lord Randolph Churchill and the mother of British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. His death allowed her to liberally move in her social circles, despite the fact that her family was nearly destitute. Link to Wikipedia biography. Jennie Spencer-Churchill CI RRC DStJ (née Jerome), better known as Lady Randolph Churchill, was a British socialite born in America. [23] She received the decoration in person from King Edward VII on 2 October that year, during a visit to Balmoral Castle. Jennie received the Royal Red Cross (RRC) military decoration in 1902 for her service as a nurse aboard the hospital ship RFA Maine during the Second Boer War. Spouse/Ex-: Clementine Churchill (1908–1965) father: Lord Randolph Churchill. Jennie took to writing plays for the West End, in many of which the star was Mrs. Patrick Campbell. 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. The invention of the Manhattan cocktail is sometimes erroneously attributed to Jennie Churchill, who supposedly asked a bartender to make a special drink to celebrate the election of Samuel J. Tilden to the New York governorship in 1874. According to Lady Randolph’s sisters, the real father of her second son Jack (John Strange Spencer-Churchill), born on February 4, 1880, was Evelyn Boscawen, 7th Viscount Falmouth. Jennie is interred in the Churchill family plot at St Martin's Church, Bladon, Oxfordshire, beside her first husband. She is renowned for her work with the ‘Red Cross’ at … This happened while Porch was travelling in Africa. (Lord Randolph was her husband's courtesy title as the younger son of a duke and in English law does not qualify as a noble title in its own right.) Winston Churchill’s mother had a two-year affair with King Edward VII, a new book claims. Short of money, Jennie contemplated selling the family home in Hertfordshire to move into the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/lady-randolph-churchill-9724.php, Celebrities Who Look Beautiful Even Without Makeup. A recent biography has stated that he was born two months prematurely after Lady Randolph "had a fall". For a period, she was employed as an editor at a magazine. George doted on Jennie, amorously nicknaming her "pussycat". [25], Her third marriage, on 1 June 1918, was to Montagu Phippen Porch (1877–1964), a member of the British Civil Service in Nigeria, who was younger than Winston by three years. She is often mistaken as the inventor of the Manhattan cocktail. The Right Honourable Baroness Mary Soames, or Lady Soames, who held the titles of LG, DBE, and FRSL, was the youngest of the five children of Sir Winston Churchill, who was the prime minister of the UK in the 1940s and the 1950s. [13] The couple had met at a sailing regatta on the Isle of Wight in August 1873, having been introduced by the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. ; 2 Find A Grave , (accessed 09/11/2012). Her lovers included the Prince of Wales, Prince Karl Kinsky, and Herbert von Bismarck. George and Jennie were married on 28 July 1900 at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge.[22]. In May 1921, Jennie, wearing new high-heeled shoes, was climbing down a friend’s staircase when she slipped and fell, splintering her left ankle. Her connections helped both Lord Randolph and Winston in their respective careers. Lady Randolph is believed to have had numerous lovers during her marriage, including the Prince of Wales, Milan I of Serbia, Prince Karl Kinsky, and Herbert von Bismarck.[18]. Long considered one of the most beautiful women of the time, [citation needed] she was married for the first time on 15 April 1874, aged 20, at the British Embassy in Paris, to Lord Randolph Churchill, the third son of John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough and Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane. Originally from New York, Jennie spent the early years of her life in US. In 1914, the same year the First World War started, she became the chair of the hospital committee for the American Women's War Relief Fund, an organization that helped hospitals acquire funds and staff during the war. They tied the knot on April 15, 1874, at the British Embassy in Paris. She was always supportive of her son, Sir Winston Churchill. Jennie married three times in her life. [5], She was raised in Brooklyn[b], Paris, and New York City. He attended Eton and Merton College, Oxford. Her spouse is Clarissa Hall (1825-1895). A play "Lady Randy" written by Anne Undeland was staged in 2019 at the WAM Theatre in Lenox, Massachusetts. 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, especially Elizabeth Everest. Who Is The Greatest Female Warrior In History? Around this time, Jennie became well known for chartering the hospital ship RFA Maine to care for those wounded in the Second Boer War, for which she was awarded the decoration of the Royal Red Cross (RRC) in the South Africa Honours list published on 26 June 1902. $17.90. English: Lady Randolph Churchill CI DStJ (Jeanette "Jennie" Jerome) (9 January 1854 – 29 June 1921) was a society beauty, best-known to history as the mother of British prime minister Winston Churchill. It was at this point that Campbell began an affair with Lady Randolph's then husband, George Cornwallis-West. Lady Churchill passed away three years later. They were introduced by the Prince of Wales, who eventually became King Edward VII. The couple became engaged within three days of their first encounter, but their wedding was postponed for several months as their parents quarrelled over the settlement. siblings: John Strange Spencer-Churchill. There was a substantial age difference, as Porch was 41 and Lady Randolph (Jennie Jerome) was 64. This was Jennie's third marriage, Porch's first. It was 1909 and Winston Churchill, a British member of parliament, had just arrived in Bristol with his new wife, Clementine. She depended heavily on nannies like Elizabeth Everest. Jennie separated from George in 1912, and they were divorced in April 1914, whereupon Cornwallis-West married Mrs. Campbell. He was a leading British Tory politician. 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