An
Age of Youth
FOREBEARS AND BOYHOOD
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
was born on November 30, 1874, to a British father and an American
mother. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a British politician
and aristocrat. His mother, Jennie Jerome, was the beautiful daughter
of an American entrepreneur.
Lord Randolph was the younger son of the seventh Duke of Marlborough,
and, as such, neither he nor Winston were likely to succeed to
the family title. Nonetheless, from his earliest days Winston was
acutely aware of his lineage. He was born and often stayed at Blenheim
Palace, the mansion built by his illustrious ancestor, the first
Duke of Marlborough, to commemorate his famous victory over the
French in 1704.
As was the prevailing custom in upper-class British circles, Winston
and his younger brother, John (called Jack), were entrusted to
the care of a nanny and were sent to a succession of boarding schools.
Churchill's parents were occupied with high society and Lord Randolph's
meteoric, yet brief, political career and did not spend a great
deal of time with their sons.
Young Winston was sometimes rebellious and often in trouble. He
was not as bad a pupil as he subsequently claimed, but neither
was he particularly distinguished academically. On leaving school
at the age of eighteen, he joined the British cavalry. Lord Randolph
died in 1895--before Winston had the opportunity to prove himself
to his often critical father.
Adriaen van der Werff.
Ritratto del duca Giovanni de
Marlborough.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (3)
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The Great Duke
Churchill's ancestor John Churchill (1650-1722), first Duke
of Marlborough, was alternately in and out of favor with
his sovereigns. An early supporter of King James II, he played
a major role in deposing him by joining forces with William
of Orange (later King William III) in 1688. Churchill and
his wife, Sarah, later regained influence during the reign
of William's daughter, Queen Anne. In spite of his many military
victories, however, he eventually lost power and was dismissed
from all of the offices he held.
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Marlborough's Victories
The first Duke of Marlborough was one of the most successful
generals in English history. Never defeated on the battlefield
in any major engagement, his greatest triumphs came on the
European continent during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714).
There he managed coalitions with great diplomatic skill and
fought effectively with allies at Blenheim (1704), Ramillies
(1706), Oudenarde (1708), and Malplaquet (1709). This contemporaneous
drawing depicts Marlborough pursuing a retreating foe. The
epigram "Arma Virumque Cano" (of arms and the man I sing)
is a quotation from Virgil's Aeneid.
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Thomas Starling.
Drawings of annual guild days
of
Norwich, England, ca. 1706.
Wash drawing.
Prints and Photographs
Division (4)
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John Churchill to Sarah Churchill,
May 24, 1706.
Page 2 - Page
3
Holograph letter.
Manuscript Division (5)
TRANSCRIPT
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Triumph at Ramillies
The Duke of Marlborough wrote this note to his wife on May
24, 1706, the day following his triumph at Ramillies (in
present-day Belgium) over French forces during the War of
the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). While actively pursuing
his beaten enemy, he asked her to tell her friend Queen Anne
that he had been victorious: "the greatest pleasure I have
in this success is that it may be a great service to her
affairs."
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Randolph Churchill
Randolph Churchill, third son of the seventh Duke of Marlborough
and father of Winston Churchill, had a brilliant, if brief,
career in British Parliamentary politics in the 1880s. An
aggressive and effective debater, he attempted through his
program of "Tory Democracy" to garner popular support for
his Conservative Party. He became Chancellor of the Exchequer
in 1886, at the age of thirty-seven, but soon resigned in
the course of a party dispute. He died on January 24, 1895,
seventy years to the day before the death of his son Winston.
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Randolph Churchill, ca. 1888.
Photograph.
Prints and Photographs
Division (6)
LC-USZ62-75527
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Studio portrait of Lord and
Lady Randolph Churchill, ca. 1874.
Copyprint.
Churchill Papers, Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (7.1)
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A British Aristocrat and an American Beauty
Winston's parents, Lord and Lady Randolph Churchill, gave
him a heritage in both Great Britain and the United States.
Lord Randolph was the son, though not heir, to the Duke of
Marlborough, as he had an older brother to succeed to the
title. Lady Randolph was christened "Jeannette" and was the
second daughter of Leonard Jerome, the New York entrepreneur
and founder of the American Jockey Club. Though born in Brooklyn,
she was educated largely in Paris.
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Lady Churchill and Her Two Sons
Shown here is Jennie with her two sons, Winston (right) and
John (left). John was Winston's junior by six years,
but the two were always very close. John, known as Jack,
is described as the "baby" in some of Winston's earliest
letters to his mother and father. Lacking his older brother's
political ambitions, Jack had a good brain for business.
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Portrait of Lady Randolph
Churchill
with her two sons, 1889.
Copyprint.
Broadwater Collection,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (7.2)
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Lord Randolph Churchill to
Miss Jeannette Jerome,
August 14, 1873.
Holograph letter.
Page 2
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge. U.K. (9)
TRANSCRIPT
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Lord Randolph Churchill and His Future Wife
Lord Randolph Churchill met his future wife, Miss Jennie
(Jeannette) Jerome, on Thursday, August 12, 1873. They were
both attending a sailing regatta on the Isle of Wight and
were introduced at a reception hosted by the Prince of Wales,
the future King Edward VII. Randolph wrote this letter just
two days later. It seems to have been love at first sight,
and the wedding took place the following April.
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Winston's Early Writing to His Mother
This letter to his mother is one of the earliest known writings
of Winston Churchill. It describes playing on the grounds
of Blenheim Palace, home to his grandparents the Duke and
Duchess of Marlborough. It has been dated to May 1882, when
Winston was just seven years old. In the note Winston describes
riding a horse named for the Scottish hero "Rob Roy."
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Winston Churchill to
Lady Randolph Churchill,
May 1882.
Holograph letter.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (11)
TRANSCRIPT
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School report for Winston Churchill
issued by
St. George's School, Ascot, November 1883.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (12)
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St. George's School Report
Winston was sent to boarding school just a few weeks prior
to his eighth birthday. His willful and rebellious nature
clashed with the strict disciplinary regime at St. George's
School, Ascot, where he was often caned. Even so, this report
for the end of his first year cannot hide his potential and
interest in the study of history. In later years Winston
wrote, "Where my reason, imagination or interest were not
engaged, I would not or I could not learn."
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A Pre-school Winston
In his book My Early Life, Churchill dates this
early picture to his time in Ireland during the tenure of
his grandfather as Lord Lieutenant. If so, it must have been
taken before February 1880 when he was just five years old.
Other sources place it slightly later, but it is definitely
pre-school and depicts a boy who is used to having the run
of palaces, parks, and servants.
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Winston Churchill, ca. 1880.
Copyprint.
Broadwater Collection,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (12.1)
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Winston Churchill to
Lady Randolph Churchill,
June 12, 1887.
Holograph letter.
Page 2 - Page
3
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (13)
TRANSCRIPT
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Letter to Mother
There is little in Churchill's childhood correspondence
to suggest a great interest in his mother's American lineage,
but he was eager to persuade her to let him attend Queen
Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebrations and see "Buffalow
Bill [sic]," even writing out the text of a letter for her
to send to his teacher. Churchill was a child of the British
Imperial era with all its pageantry. He had a large collection
of toy soldiers, and--as these drawings show--a schoolboy's
keen interest in all things military.
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Churchill at Harrow
In 1889, when this photograph was taken, Churchill was a
fourteen-year-old attending Harrow, a well-known private
school. He was an indifferent student in several subjects
and struggled to pass the entrance examination for the British
military academy at Sandhurst. Churchill nonetheless distinguished
himself in history, English composition, and fencing. He
also successfully memorized 1,200 lines of poetry to win
a school prize. Although both he and his parents frequently
were disappointed with his performance, Churchill remembered
several aspects of his school days with fondness and often
returned for visits in later life.
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Winston During Early Years,
1889.
Copyprint.
New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection,
Prints and Photographs
Division (15)
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Lord Randolph Churchill
to Winston Churchill,
August 21, 1894.
Holograph letter.
Page 2 - Page
3 - Page 4
Churchill Papers, Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (16)
TRANSCRIPT
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A Father's Disapproval
In 1894, at age forty-five, Lord Randolph Churchill's political
career was over and his health was deteriorating. In this
letter sent from California, he is critical of Winston's
desire to join the cavalry instead of the infantry. It captures
a strained relationship that likely was exacerbated by the
father's illness. The final line with its refusal to countenance
the change "during my lifetime" is poignant as Lord Randolph
died just five months later in January 1895.
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Lord Randolph at the End of His Life
This photograph of Lord Randolph Churchill was taken shortly
before his death. The impact of his death on Winston cannot
be overstated. He had lost the opportunity to prove himself
to his father and now found himself the head of the family.
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Lord Randolph Churchill, ca.
1894.
Copyprint.
Churchill Press Photographs,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (16.1)
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FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE UNITED STATES
Shortly before his twenty-first
birthday, in November 1895, Churchill visited the United States
on his way to his first military adventure, in Cuba. He traveled
by steamship to New York, where he stayed for more than a week.
In New York, he enjoyed his first taste of American high society,
attending parties and social events and meeting people of wealth
and power.
In 1900 Churchill returned for a comprehensive lecture tour across
the eastern United States and Canada. His aim was to capitalize
on his fame as a British hero of the Boer War. The tour did not
generate the profits Churchill had hoped, and he encountered American
opposition to British action in South Africa. Yet it introduced
him to the elite of American society, including Mark Twain, Theodore
Roosevelt, and President William McKinley.
Churchill returned to Great Britain in February 1901. He took
his seat, which he had won prior to the U.S. trip, in the British
Parliament and launched his long political career.
Winston Churchill to Jack
Churchill,
November 15, 1895.
Holograph letter.
Page 2
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (19)
TRANSCRIPT
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First Visit to the U.S.
Churchill visited the United States for the first time in
November 1895. He was almost twenty-one and was en route
to his first military adventure in Cuba. He stayed in New
York, where he was lavishly entertained by the politician
Bourke Cockran. Churchill recorded his first impressions
in this letter to his brother Jack. The aspiring writer describes
American journalism as "vulgarity divested of truth" and
Americans as "a great, crude, strong, young people. "
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Return to America
Churchill returned to America on December 8, 1900. His South
African exploits had given him celebrity status, and he was
resolved to capitalize on this financially by undertaking
a grueling lecture tour. Churchill did not attract the crowds
he was accustomed to in England and had to contend with audiences
who did not share his convictions. Yet he was introduced
by Mark Twain in New York, paid his first visit to Washington,
D.C., and met an American president for the first time, President
William McKinley.
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Winston Churchill to Lady
Randolph Churchill,
December 21, 1900.
Page 2 - Page
3
Annotated typescript.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (40)
TRANSCRIPT
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Major James B. Pond to Mrs.
Cornwallis West,
November 2, 1900.
Page 2
Signed typescript.
Churchill Papers,
Churchill Archives Centre,
Cambridge, U.K. (41)
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A Mother's Influence
Major James B. Pond was the American agent responsible for
promoting Churchill's first U.S. lecture tour. In the letter
shown here Pond tries to persuade Winston's mother, the newly
remarried Mrs. Cornwallis West, to accompany her son to New
York, the city of her birth. The letter illustrates the value
of Jennie's fame and contacts to Winston during his early
career. Churchill had a falling out with Pond during the
tour and described him as "a vulgar Yankee impresario."
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Churchill in Boston
This photograph was taken in Boston during Churchill's lecture
tour about the Boer War. On this leg of his journey he met
the then-popular American writer Winston Churchill, author
of the recently published historical novel, Richard Carvel.
An illustrated account of their meeting appeared on the front
page of the Boston Herald. In earlier correspondence,
the British Churchill had promised his namesake that he would
henceforth publish under the name "Winston Spencer Churchill" to
avoid confusion.
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J. E. Purdy. Winston
Churchill, 1900.
Photograph.
Prints and Photographs
Division (42)
LC-USZ62-65636
[Digital Id # cph 3b13159]
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COLONIAL WARS
The end of the nineteenth century
was a time of great opportunities for young soldiers who, like
Winston Churchill, sought to win fame and rise in the military
profession. The British Empire, then near its peak, was maintained
and extended by Queen Victoria's armed forces in a series of small
but deadly conflicts in Africa and Asia.
As a newly commissioned cavalry officer, Churchill eagerly sought
opportunities to prove himself in combat and to come to the attention
of his superiors and the British public. Between 1895 and 1900
he saw combat in Cuba, India, the Sudan, and South Africa.
In all of these adventures Churchill demonstrated unusual bravery
and self-possession under fire. His writings from the battlefield
exhibited the literary, journalistic, and historical skills that
would characterize his future career and generated sufficient income
to allow him to enter politics.
Winston Churchill to the Duke
of Marlborough,
September 29, 1898.
Holograph letter.
Page 2 - Page
3 - Page 4
Marlborough Papers,
Manuscript Division (20)
TRANSCRIPT
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The Charge of the Twenty-first Lancers
In 1898 Churchill was anxious to win a name for himself
as a soldier and war correspondent. He maneuvered his way
into a posting with a British cavalry unit, the Twenty-first
Lancers, just before the climax of the Anglo-Egyptian expedition
to reconquer the Sudan--the Battle of Omdurman. This letter
to his cousin describes his participation in the last great
British cavalry charge of the nineteenth century. It also
discusses his future political plans, his need for money,
and his feelings--not always positive--about the expedition's
commander, General Herbert Kitchener.
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Triumph in the Desert
After the Battle of Omdurman, Churchill's mother, Jennie
Jerome Churchill, telegraphed her sister Clara and brother-in-law,
Moreton Frewen. Jennie told them that her son was safe and
that his regiment had performed well. She added, however,
that a newspaper correspondent, Hubert Howard of the London Times,
had been killed and that another Times reporter,
Francis Rhodes, had been wounded.
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Jennie Jerome Churchill to
Moreton Frewen,
September 5, 1898.
Telegram.
Moreton Frewen Papers,
Manuscript Division (21b)
TRANSCRIPT
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Winston Churchill to the Duke
of Marlborough,
January 24, 1899.
Holograph letter.
Page 2 - Page
3 - Page 4
Marlborough Papers,
Manuscvript Division (23)
TRANSCRIPT
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Leaving the Army
Churchill resigned his commission in the British Army in
1899. Embarking on a career of writing and politics, he wrote
his cousin Marlborough that he regretted leaving a profession
that had assured him "at least of a livelihood and some sort
of progression." He also congratulated Marlborough on his
recent political appointment: "You are young to be in the
ministry, but this is an age of youth, so accept my tribute
not only as coming from a friend but from one of the generation
that has yet to divide the world."
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£25 Reward for Churchill's Capture
Churchill won international fame with a price on his head.
On the night of December 12, 1899, the twenty-five-year-old
war correspondent escaped from Boer captivity by climbing
over the wall of the States Model School in Pretoria, where
he was held prisoner. A reward of £25 was issued for his
recapture. A description circulated by the Boer authorities
noted that he could not speak a word of Dutch. Despite this,
and after some adventures, Churchill made it to safety.
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Boer "Wanted" poster in Dutch,
with translation.
On loan from the National Trust,
Chartwell, UK. (25)
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Winston Churchill, ca.
1900.
Photograph.
Prints and Photographs
Division (26)
LC-USZ62-65637
[Digital ID# cph 3b13160]
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Fighting the Boers
After his escape from the Boers, Churchill joined the South
African Light Horse, an irregular cavalry unit fighting his
former captors. He remained as a soldier/correspondent in
South Africa for several more months, thrilling British readers
with his accounts of battle and the army's laborious progress
toward victory. He also wrote two books about his experiences.
This picture, taken for a dust jacket, shows him in uniform,
complete with a decorative feather and a fledgling moustache.
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Lady Randolph and the Maine
During the Boer War Churchill's mother tried to promote
Anglo-American solidarity by providing a hospital ship to
treat men wounded in the fighting. This ship, re-christened
the Maine, sailed for South Africa on December 23,
1899, with Jennie aboard. In this letter to a supporter,
she reported on her voyage and noted that her younger son,
Jack, had gone off to fight: "Of course it is a great source
of anxiety to me--but I am thankful the other [i.e., Winston]
escaped from Pretoria."
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Jennie Jerome Churchill to
Helen Mills Reid,
January 8, 1900.
Holograph letter.
Page 2 - Page
3 - Page 4
Page 5 - Page
6
Manuscript Division (30)
TRANSCRIPT
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Winston Churchill.
"Operations in Natal,"
[London] Morning Post,
March 1, 1900.
Copyprint.
Moreton Frewen Papers,
Manuscript Division (32)
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War Correspondent
As a reporter for the London Morning Post, Churchill
crafted a lively mix of second-hand accounts, personal impressions,
and commentary. In this article he described the stubborn
Boer resistance to the British forces during the siege of
Ladysmith: "Fighting is vigorously proceeding, and we shall
see who can stand the bucketing best--Briton or Boer." Churchill
also accused his enemies of using bullets banned by international
law even as he paid tribute to their courage and fighting
qualities.
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Youthful Fame
Churchill's widely publicized exploits made him famous in
Britain. In this appreciation by London's Sunday Telegraph,
a feature writer said: "It is now a household tale how he
led the fight of the armoured train, how he returned into
the hands of the enemy rather than desert his comrades, how
he escaped from Pretoria prison. Who has not read the story
of his dangerous dash for freedom?" The article also predicted
that his recently published novel, Savrola, would
be "a really popular book."
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" Lord Randolph Churchill's Brilliant Son,"
[London] Sunday Telegraph, February 18, 1900.
Newspaper clipping.
Moreton Frewen Papers,
Manuscript Division (33)
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John Spencer Churchill to
Clara Jerome Frewen,
March 27, 1900.
Holograph letter.
Page 2 - Page
3
Moreton Frewen Papers,
Manuscript Division (36)
TRANSCRIPT
AVAILABLE
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Jack and Winston in Combat
The Boer War was a family affair for the Churchills. Winston's
mother and his brother Jack had also gone to South Africa,
where Jack had joined Winston as a cavalry officer. This
letter from Jack to his aunt describes the Battle of Hussar
Hill (February 12, 1900), Jack's first time under fire. He
was wounded and, at Winston's insistence, was put into an
ambulance and sent to the rear. Jack later went aboard his
mother's hospital ship for treatment and recuperation.
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South African Light Horse
Frustrated by the mobility of their Boer opponents during
the Boer (or South African) War, British leaders raised a
number of volunteer cavalry formations to serve in their
cause. Churchill himself cabled back to London, "More irregular
corps are wanted. Are the gentlemen of England all fox-hunting?" Churchill's
own unit, the South African Light Horse, is shown here as
it rides through Cape Town on its way to the front lines.
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South African Light Horse, 1900.
Copyprint.
Prints and Photographs
Division (38)
LC-USZ62-92696
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" Lady Randolph Churchill's Engagement,"
[Philadelphia] Public Ledger, July 21, 1900.
Newspaper clipping.
Moreton Frewen Papers,
Manuscript Division (39)
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Lady Randolph Marries Again
Popular interest in Churchill's glamorous and irrepressible
mother was increased by reports in July 1900 of her marriage
to George Cornwallis West, a handsome British Army officer.
He was twenty years younger than Jennie, and only sixteen
days older than Winston. The Churchill family demonstrated
their support for Jennie by attending the wedding, but the
groom's parents, who disapproved of the match, stayed away.
This news clipping announcing the couple's engagement is
from an American paper and appeared seven days before the
wedding.
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