Jennie Churchill: Winston's American Mother, by Anne Sebba

Jennie Churchill: Winston's American Mother reveals the life of the mother of Winston Churchill, arguably the United Kingdom's most famous Prime Minister. Born Jennie Jerome in 19th century America, Jennie blazed through life defying her friends, her family and the rest of her society.

Rumoured to have slept with over 200 men, Jennie eventually married three of them, each time in the face of staunch opposition. She embraced politics, driving both her husband and her son forward at a time when women were thought to know so little about politics that they were not yet entrusted to vote. She also had literary successes, if financial failures; failures which were compounded by her spendthrift ways and seemingly unfailing trust that somehow money would always be found to fund her lifestyle.

Yet for all of Jennie's failings, author Anne Sebba does an excellent job of making her appear a loyal and sympathetic character, as well as captivatingly interesting and, of course, brazen.

Jennie's first husband was Winston Churchill's father, Lord Randolph Churchill. Here the young couple faced opposition from both sides of their families: Jennie's parents felt that she could do better than marrying the second son of a Duke - perhaps she could marry someone with a bit more money? Randolph's family felt he could do better by marrying a girl whose father was willing to provide a larger dowry - perhaps he could marry someone with a bit more money?

However, when Jennie and Randolph made it clear they would be pressing ahead with the wedding, a financial settlement was finally hammered out between the two families.

It is through this financial settlement I got a glimpse of what helped shape Jennie's headstrong, independent character. Her fiancé, Randolph, wrangles for Jennie's father to put the financial contribution to the couple into his name rather than Jennie's. English law was still dictating that a married woman's possessions became the property of her husband, so Randolph would have been following convention by making this demand. Jennie's forward thinking father outright refuses Randolph's request, stating it is an archaic English custom he nor his daughter will be following and advises Randolph that some of the money given by him will be solely in Jennie's name, unable to be touched by Randolph.

Growing up with the influence of a father who did not abide by all of the UK's repressive customs regarding women must have nurtured, if not bred in Jennie her defiant spirit with regards to her husbands and her lovers, none of whom were able to control or calm her.

When her marriage to Randolph was still in its infancy, Jennie was quite openly engaging in a number of affairs. It is rumoured her second son, Winston's younger brother Jack, was not fathered by Randolph. The Churchills were leading increasingly separate lives, and London society was openly discussing the possibility of divorce between Lord and Lady Churchill, at a time when divorce was considered scandalous and divorced women ran the risk of being forever shunned by society.

However, divorce Jennie would. Though not from Randolph. The Churchills remained married until Randolph's death, even when he was completely aware she was sleeping with and sometimes even living with other men. No, the man she divorced was named George Cornwallis-West, having married him when she was aged forty six and George, twenty years her junior, was twenty six.

This marriage too was once again met with opposition from both sides. Surprisingly, her sons, who were almost the same age as George, did not lead the cries of horror when their mother’s engagement was announced. They were not thrilled, but they were accepting.

Instead, the protests came from Jennie's friends and George’s family, led by his mother. The then Prince of Wales, who  went on to become King Edward VII, was one of the friends who put into words his opposition to the marriage. The Prince of Wales himself was one man Jennie had already been rumoured to be enjoying an affair with in years previous; as too, ironically, had George’s mother. In any case, Jennie did not care. She went ahead and married George.

The marriage was not a success and eventually Jennie would divorce George and replace him with a younger model, Montagu Phippen Porch. This last marriage took place when Jennie was sixty four. This time Jennie defied convention in a different way, refusing to take Porch as her married name.

In the background of this illustrious personal life was her husband’s, and later her son’s, political career. Randolph, like Winston, was a Member of Parliament. Ambitious and determined until illness took hold of him (it is said Randolph had contracted syphilis), behind Randolph was Jennie, persuading and advising him, campaigning for him and raging at him when he made his rash decision to quit government. Years later, her concentration shifted to her previously attention deprived sons, especially to her eldest, Winston. She threw herself into Winston’s future prospects, writing numerous letters to male acquaintances who she felt could advance his career, trying with all her power to get Winston noticed.

In later years one of Winston’s adversaries is reported to have commented that his ‘politics are as rotten as his mother’s morals’. The two go hand in hand more than the speaker imagined. Jennie executed determined, hell bent behaviour of a woman who seethed with ambition for her son. And, however she done it, her plan to get Winston noticed undoubtedly worked. I wonder, though, what Jennie would have become with today’s opportunities, in a world where women do not need to seek to fulfill their political ambitions through male family members.

Last weekend I visited the House of Commons in London, where political debates take place in the UK. On the ground floor is the politicians’ seats, above which is a spectator’s gallery. This is where Jennie would have sat when visited the House. I was interested to hear that the knee high curtain surrounding the gallery was a ‘modesty curtain’, introduced to prevent the male MPs catching a glimpse of ladies’ legs. I wonder if Jennie, such a passionate, forward speaking woman, wished she could step in front of the modesty curtain and join the political debate herself. If she could have, imagine what she, the driving force behind one of the most successful political careers ever, may have become. Alas, we will never know.

During her years supporting Winston she also started writing, eventually founding her own magazine, Anglo-Saxon Review. Unfortunately, it had to be scrapped after ten issues due to the financial loss it was incurring. It was not the first time she was faced with money worries. Jennie Churchill contains many references to Jennie’s money problems as she struggles to reconcile being frugal with spending £200 (a small fortune at the time) on a dress. In fairness to her, her assumption that money would always be found does tend to come to fruition.

Jennie lived her life knowing what she was doing wrong, recognising the opposition towards it and realising she was garnering a reputation. Yet she tossed those thoughts aside and done it anyway.

Jennie Churchill was clever, beautiful and ambitious, rushing through life engulfed in a cloud of scandal, about which she did not give a damn. A brazen women indeed.