Figure 1.--Here we see the beautiful socialite Lady Randolph Churchill. Notice the fashionable corseted hour-class waistine. She is pictured with her two sons, Winstion and his younger brother John (Jack) Strange Churchill (1880-1947) in 1889. Jack was Winston's only sibling. Rumors swirled around Jennie. One was she was already pegnant at the time of the marriage. Another was Jack was not Lord Randolph's son. There of course was no qustion about Winston. ALso notice how Winston is clinging on to his mother.

Winston's mother Jeanette (Jennie) Jerome (1854-1921) was a wealthy American heiress. Her father, Leonard Walter Jerome, was a sucessful financier/speculator, sportsman, and patron of the arts. Her mother, and Clara (Hall) Jerome, came from a landowning family. She had two sisters, Clara (1851-1935) and Leonie (1859-1943), who were also husband shopping in Britain. It was Jeennie that got the real prise. The Jerome sistes had an international childhood growing up between New York, London, and Paris at a time Europe and America were connected with increasingly luxurious ocean liners. It was at a time that America was surpassing the great European powers in population and economic power. Many down-in-the-heel British aristocrats turned to eligible Americans from the families benefiting from rising American industrial economy of the late-19th century. (Edith Wharton wrote a novel on this, The Buccaneers). Jennie had it all. She was was beautiful, personable, charming, and an accomplished piano player. Their mother moved the family to Paris (1868). This beautiful heiress and socialite took Britain by storm when she became Lady Randolph Churchill (1874). At the time, Lord Randolph was, a son of the duke of Marlborough and a rising star in the Conservative Party. Her wit and elegance added some needed flair to Conservative circles. As one author describes, "From royal affairs to secret love children, Lady Churchill stirred up trouble wherever she went." Interestingly, given her interest in high society, the marriage was not a huge affair -- it was a quiet ceremony at the British Embassy in Paris. We suspect that there was a need to get the marriage done fast. The rumor mill began almost as Jennie was walking down the isle. She was almost certainly already pregnant and it began to show very quickly after the marriage ceremony. Like many of her class, she did not want to be encumbered with motherhood. She was focused on the breath-taking social swirl of British high society. What a contrast to Sarah Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt's mothers--the two men who would powerfully shape the 20th century. These two women literally had the future of the 20th century in their hand. As the wife of Lord Randolph, Jennie had many duties, especially revolving around her husband's and to a lessee extent er son's political career. She played not only a prominent, but an influential role in English court and political life for an entire generation. This was in part because of her marriage, but also her own energy and talent. During the 1880s she provided valuable support for her husband’s political career. She was not only a highly sucessdul hostess, actively campaigned. (Tt has been said that she was effectively Lord Randolph’s campaign manager.) She played an role in founding the Primrose League, a sociopolitical organization that served as asounding board for the discussion of the issues of the day and ws a rare way in which men and women could intereact in the political sphere. As a result of all of this, she had little time for Winston. She was certainly more affectionate than her husband, but by all standards must be judged to have been a distant mother. This was not uncommon at the time. Many wealthy families shunted the children off to the nursery where they were in effect raised by nannies. In later life Winston wrote of his mother: "She shone for me like the Evening Star. I loved her dearly--but at a distance." Jennie was not just a socialite. She served as chair and nurse on hospital ship Maine during the Boer War (1899–1900). She got involved in letters. She founded and edited the Anglo-Saxon Review (1899), published her reminiscences (1908), produced two plays produced (1914), and served on hospital boards (1915–19). She also had political insights. In fact so did Churchill's wife, Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill (née Hozier). Churchilland his father before him would have benefitted by listening to Jennie more and Churchill esepcially his politically astute wife. 【Roskill, p. 55-57. 】 Jennie does not get high marks for mothergood, but she does for sage socity advice which ha political overtones. Jennie nvolved heself in her husban;s and son's political careers, but rarely becme involved in actual issues. An exception was that she was an outspoken opponent of women's right to vote. As a result, she and Winstonm were often heckled by offended suffragettes.

Sources

Roskil, Stephen. Churchill and the Admirals (Willam Morrw and Company: New York, 1978), 351p. Clemitine atan early point in Churchill's career saw the danger in getting to clse to Fisher.

Created: 4:52 PM 4/9/2025
Last updated: 4:53 PM 4/9/2025