The Original Iron Lady - Clementine Churchill

on the 12th of december 1977 an old woman aged 92 suffered a fatal heart attack in her london home in knightsbridge her body was then taken to being teared beside her family at st martin's church located in oxfordshire county in england she was survived by two of her five children the nation her husband saved and his legacy which she had fought so hard to maintain the debt of gratitude she was owed was often acknowledged privately by those who knew her husband best but never as publicly as she might have deserved or even wanted she was the wife of winston churchill one of the greatest prime ministers britain has ever seen at the time of her death she was the right honorable baroness clementine spencer churchill but before all that she was miss clementine hosier i'm not here for the grand schemes and now neither are you long history very short this is little slights where i talk about the women who lived and died in the shadows cast by history's limelight let's talk about the original iron lady clementine hosier was born on the first of april 1885. her parents sir henry hosier and his wife lady blanche were not known for their fidelity to each other and there were many men suspected of being clementine's true father as well as those of her siblings elder sister kitty and younger twin siblings margaret nelly and william her parents marriage was deeply troubled henry was an aloof man who reportedly did not want children unwillingly matched to a willful and dangerously bored wife when clementine was six henry sued blanche for divorce and the siblings were caught in the middle of a terrible custody battle that saw clementine kitty bill and nelly shipped off to live with henry and his spinster sister their aunt mary mary hosher was unkind and henry hosier uninterested the children were raised primarily by a governess in a modest home in birkemstead just north of london clementine's experience in the birkhamstead house would be incredibly influential in how she viewed the poor and working classes later on as even though she was ostensibly upper class herself clementine was made to in many ways live just like the lower classes an endless drudgery of chores and tasks with never quite enough to get by on whether it be nutritional nourishment or as it was in clementine's case emotional clementine's childhood was a miserable experience spent primarily in severe schools without any caring parental figures to guide her it ended up making her afraid skittish and prone to crying as a child she and her siblings were eventually returned to her mother but even that didn't help as they had no financial assistance to get by on moving from house to house for the next eight years her mother lady blanche kept to her entertaining of her many male friends and even when she did look to her children clementine didn't get the attention she needed most of it diverted to her prettier older sister kitty the tide began to change and clementine began to grow into herself when the family moved to dieppe france it was a more forgiving place of lady blanche's many indiscretions and for all her flaws blanche believed the value of a good education for her children it was still hard for clementine to bear up under the weight of her mother's scrutiny and the scrutiny on her mother but she began to excel in her studies in time she was doing so well that even her father henry hosier took notice of her again he came to diet personally and demanded that clementine come back home with him to live with he and his aunt mary at once in that moment shy timid tearful clementine suddenly gave way to a firm clear-headed lady who absolutely refused to go when her father attempted to physically force her to go with him she waited until his attention had turned for just a second and then escaped the premises making her way back to her family and safety i imagine it was sort of a moment of crystallization for clementine she had defied her father the monster of her childhood and won sending him away rebuffed and humiliated by her quick mind the triumph however could not last and her beloved older sister soon fell ill with typhoid clementine and her younger siblings were sent away to scotland while lady blanche devoted herself fully to her eldest daughter but it was all for naught kitty hosier died on the 5th of march 1900 clementine had left not realizing she would never see her sister again and was devastated by the loss alone without the sister she loved clementine was sent to grammar school under the tutelage of a miss beatrice harris it turned out to be a blessing in disguise while clementine was beginning to discover the true core of her spirit harris was the first of her mentors to recognize and encourage it as well clementine blossomed under her eye and away from that of her mothers learning everything she could get her hands on not just english math and literature but the rights of the people the plight of the poor the liberties denied to women harris wanted to send clementine to university to grow even further but lady blanche had finally noticed what an attractive girl her daughter had grown into and was determined to see clementine launched into society and lady blanche won fun story apparently clementine was so successful upon her launch her little sister nelly had to keep a file for all her suitors and labeled them as rejected pending and accepted yes accepted clementine was twice engaged to sir sidney peel and once to an older gentleman but both fell through neither offering what clementine wanted in a marriage what did clementine want well she was about to get a taste in 1904 clementine attended a ball at the crew house where she met a young man a star on the rise named winston churchill churchill was from an aristocratic family and had gained prominence as a war correspondent during the second boer war he was now a member of parliament she was 19 winston 29. churchill was looking for a wife himself and he was instantly captivated by clementine's good looks but the true shift that would align their stars came four years later in 1908 when they were sat beside each other at the dinner party of one of clementine's distant relatives winston was smitten here was a girl of great beauty yes but also great wit and intelligence winston was in fact so enraptured by their conversation he ignored everyone else there that night to focus on clementine including the dignitaries he was meant to impress as for clementine she would later recall she thought churchill looked interesting but more importantly he was smart well-read engaging with a tragic past that resonated with her own he was also a participant in the public sphere in a way that clementine wanted to be but was barred from due to her gender it made winston into an attractive package and he was equally starstruck by her it was a perfect match within five months churchill had proposed and on september 12 1908 they were married at saint margaret's westminster churchill would later go on to say my marriage was much the most fortunate and joyous event which happened to me in the whole of my life a story here to set the stage for the rest of their marriage in 1909 not even a year into it winston was nearly killed when a militant suffragist whose cause winston vehemently disagreed with at that point in time tried to push him in front of a moving train clementine quick as ever burst through the luggage in her way and dragged him back by his jacket saving his life pulling winston churchill away from oncoming trains both literal and metaphorical would become her life's work on the domestic front the family settled at 33 eccleston place and welcomed their first daughter diana in 1909. in the decade following the couple would have three more children randall sarah and marigold clementine didn't board her children up to be seen and never heard but she was distracted distant even as her daughter sarah would later recall clementine was high strung and had high standards for a family some of them impossible to meet another daughter mary said that a childhood of tragedy hardship and shouldering the burdens of her own parents left clementine with feelings of inadequacy and anxiety that would affect her for the rest of her life most importantly the children were aware that to their mother winston and the political sphere he occupied always came first clementine was a liberal at heart and she took it upon herself to act as winston's conscience and they argued fiercely many times she was supportive of women's rights and the welfare state and encouraged her husband to support them as well railing against his more radical conservative ideas and the snooty aristocrats he counted as friends to be fair to clementine as daughter sarah would note her judgments were sometimes truer than winston's own whatever their ideological differences clementine would support her husband unconditionally over the next few years as he climbed his way up and occasionally stumbled back down the political ladder but everything changed in june of 1914 archduke franz ferdinand of austria was assassinated creating a domino effect that would see much of europe coalescing into what would come to be known as the war to end all wars the great war world war one after severe miscalculations had damaged his reputation beforehand winston chose to fight on the western front with the grenadiers to rehab his reputation he went with clementine's full blessing more than that she apparently told him not to come back too soon for she knew he needed all the help he could get she remained in london working with the ymca to organize canteens for munition workers supporting the war effort for that king george v would later make her a commander of the order of the british empire winston finished his tour returning home in 1917 and marigold was born soon after as the war drew to a close winston was promoted to secretary of state for war and air seemingly the rehab had paid off but the 1920s were a turbulent time for the churchills the war was over yes but winston's mother clementine's brother and their youngest daughter marigold died early into the decade there were positives their last child mary was born in 1922 and they purchased chartwell which would be their home for the rest of their lives together but winston was soon left jobless after losing a seat in parliament the family visited france for some time to recover and within two years winston was in a position of power once more but it was likely that in this time clementine fought some of her fiercest battles with her husband's black dog the personification winston gave to the depression and anxiety that hounded him winston churchill often struggled with feeling like his talents were going to waste making him feel useless and inadequate clementine was instrumental in pulling him back from the brink but it took its toll on her that plus winston's long absences his overall carelessness and the couple's clashing viewpoints caused the marriage to begin to spiral the thirties did not prove to be any more gentle towards the couple over the course of the decade winston would find success again but also face public ridicule for his positions on india's independence and the royal abdication crisis as well as facing cincher from appeasers on his stance against the rising nazi threat and what was thought of winston was reflected onto clementine being winston churchill's wife made her unpopular in some circles being his outspoken wife even more so and clementine was that it is reported that the couple approached divorce more than once during these times clementine began taking vacations to get away from it all on one such vacation it was even said she had an affair with an art dealer named terence phillip but ultimately that can't be proven here's a story we know is true while clementine was being hosted on one of her vacations by lord moyne a fellow guest cheered here here to a radio broadcast criticizing mr churchill clementine expected her host to apologize for the guest's comment but when none came she promptly left the room packed her bags and got ready to leave an apology did come but it was too late for clementine and she went home no matter what was happening between them she would not stand for slander of her husband's good name a shadow stretched over the world as the 30s drew to a close in 1938 neville chamberlain signed the munich agreement to appease hitler in germany which winston called a total and unmitigated defeat he was proven correct as less than a year later england would declare war on nazi germany churchill's actions in lead up to and during world war ii have been documented in every medium several times very well but what was happening in the shadows as winston rose to the utmost prominence prime minister of his country clementine became his rock even more so than ever and one of his closest advisors she scolded him in a letter in 1940 to be kinder to the people around them to bolster their spirits he was in the position of power he always wanted now and it fell to him to get them through this clementine took these words to heart herself as the blitz began and bombs started to rain down on london as food ran low and homes froze she recognized the united spirit the british had that stiff upper lip that could save them if only they helped each other once she visited those devastated by the blitz and dryly commented to a friend i have made up my mind to ignore all this completely england would survive and recover if she had her way so she stayed in london and manned many aid organizations chairing the red cross aid to russia fund and the maternity hospital for wives of officers as well as presiding over the young women's christian association wartime appeal at one point she even thoroughly dressed down french leader charles de gaulle when on a visit to downing street he said the french would rather turn the guns on the british than help the british defeat the nazis winston needed to avoid diplomatic incident and so couldn't call him out clementine had no such limitations charles would later send her flowers and an apology in private she kept winston on his feet chiding and consoling and cajoling him along as the country struggled churchill later said of his wife's support during the war it would have been impossible for any ordinary man to have got through what i have had to get through in peace and war without her devoted aid in 1943 when the 69 year old churchill suffered from pneumonia and heart trouble clementine flew to his side to nurse him back to health feeding him his favorite foods until he was well enough to dictate orders from his bed her words were invaluable to him during the fighting the two corresponding frequently but she also knew when silence was best for everyone even winston when she was informed by a doctor that her husband's non-stop flying was making his heart condition worse clementine kept those concerns to herself as she had put winston above all so had he done for his country and england needed him out there their hard work and england's sacrifices paid off the allies won the war however winston quickly lost his position of prime minister afterwards due to a series of gaffs at potsdam and in the election campaign clementine called it a blessing in disguise winston to put it lightly disagreed the russians recognized her own efforts during the war with the order of the red banner of labor and king george vi raised the ranking his father had given her in the order of the british empire from that of a commander to a dame the equivalent of a knight for the next six years winston would head the conservative party as leader of the opposition until his re-election to prime minister in 1951 the churchills would see the dawn of a new age with the coronation of queen elizabeth ii and the sunset of their own winston mustered on for four more years but he formally retired in 1955 after his health began to take a down turn he still worked for a time after his retirement but the days of prime minister and his quartermaster of the house his beloved clemmy juggling dinner parties and listening to speeches and nurturing ambitions wrangling children and politicians both those days were over their firstborn diana died in 1963 at age 54 of an apparent suicide the churchills and diana's children buried her at st margaret's by this point winston was very ill himself unable even to attend a ceremony in the united states held in his honor two years later he suffered the last in a series of strokes he appeared to rally a few times but on january 14 1965 former prime minister winston churchill passed away after 56 years of marriage clementine was a widow the whole world is the poorer by the loss of his many sighted genius the queen wrote to clementine in the aftermath the queen saw that winston was given a state funeral an honor typically reserved for royalty she also allowed clementine to ride in the procession in her own town coach winston churchill lay in state for three days and then was taken to oxfordshire to be buried beside diana of the funeral clementine told mary it wasn't a funeral it was a triumph despite what the pain of losing her husband must have done to her his funeral had been a credit to his legacy the largest attendance of dignitaries in history at that time and clementine could not have asked for better and probably would not have accepted less after winston's death queen elizabeth elevated clementine to baroness making her a life peer giving her the rights to a seat in the house of lords clementine's declining health meant she couldn't participate the way she would have relished years before but she did sit as a crossbencher or an independent parliamentary member on occasion she lost her only son randall in 1968 after a fatal heart attack took him unexpectedly and duly buried him next to her husband and daughter clementine suffered from low finances later in life but would not hear of a stipend from the state choosing instead to sell a few paintings to make ends meet she made few appearances in her twilight years attending the occasional dinner and church function but she had arthritis and her vision and hearing had been failing for years still no one expected the heart attack that would claim her life on december 12 1977. clementine had outlived all her siblings her husband and three children she was survived by her daughters sarah and mary and numerous grandchildren after a private ceremony she was buried with the rest of her family clementine hosier spencer churchill had lived 92 years early in his career when everything looked to be falling apart clementine wrote to winston try not to brood too much i would be so unhappy if your naturally open and unsuspicious nature became embittered if you are not killed as sure as the day follow night you will come into your own again that way of hers compassion and hope tempered with a good dose of reality that spine of steel that said any hardship you could live through you could conquer was what made clementine so familiar and invaluable to a man who would someday be tasked with saving his country and what made her so uniquely suited to the job she had given herself to protect encourage advise and criticize that very man clementine was a formidable woman in her own right make no mistake she ran her household with an efficiency that could be frightening she debated fiercely with her indomitable husband and often one though plagued with insecurity she seemed unafraid of her mind or expressing it but clementine was also a woman who was her husband's wife and people often find that insulting like a woman must always be more than that to quote unquote count i think she took true pride in it found the power in it and wielded it to masterful effect general pug ismae churchill's chief of staff said that if not for her the history of winston churchill and of the world would have been a very different story her gender barred her from being the statesman she wanted to be but she found a way to help others and have her voice heard despite that and maybe most importantly to clementine she did it supporting the man she loved one more story to really drive it home in 1954 graham sutherland was commissioned to paint a portrait of winston churchill for a ceremony celebrating his 80th birthday that would be held at westminster hall both clementine and winston reportedly got along with sutherland well as the portrait was being completed but winston was horrified at the result he described the painting as filthy and malignant and its presence deeply bothered him but he couldn't refuse the painting as it would look bad so he allowed its presentation and then took it home to chartwell where it would never be seen again the churchills refused any request to have it displayed in exhibitions when in 1978 after both of their deaths it was requested once more that the painting be given over for public display its fate was revealed clementine churchill had it broken and burned years before because it distressed her husband so much and it distressed him that that might be the image of his legacy clementine was still saving winston even after both of them were gone you

Channel: Little Sleights | Hidden Histories

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Length: 22min 58sec (1378 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 21 2021