The Papers of Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill of Chartwell

1885 : Born, daughter of Sir Henry Hozier and Lady Blanche Hozier, daughter of 9th Earl of Airlie.

Educated at home, Berkhamsted Girls School and at the Sorbonne; Paris.

1908 : Married Rt. Hon Sir Winston Churchill, KG, PC,OM, FRS, (died 1965) with whom she had 4 daughters and 1 son.

1914-18 : Organised canteens for munitions workers on behalf of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in the North East Metropolitan Area of London.

1918 : CBE

1939-46 : Chairman of the Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund.

1940-46 : President of Young Women's Christian Association War Time Appeal; Chairman of Fulmer Chase Maternity Hospital for Wives of Junior Officers

1945 : Freedom of Wanstead and Woodford.

1946 : Hon LLD Glasgow University : Hon DCL Oxford University : GBE

1948-51 : Chairman of National Hostels Committee of YWCA.

1965 : Created Baroness Spencer-Churchill of Chartwell (Life Peer)

1976 : Hon LLD Bristol University

12 December 1977 : Died

The collection includes the papers, albums and correspondence of Lady Spencer-Churchill (formerly the property of the Clementine Spencer-Churchill Trust).

It contains the letters exchanged between Sir Winston (WSC) and Lady Churchill (CSC) from 1908, the time of their engagement, until 1963, shortly before Sir Winston's death (1965). This collection was used by Lady Soames in the writing of her mother's biography and it provides a splendid, detailed and often very moving record of a remarkable partnership. The rest of the collection is made up of Lady Spencer-Churchill's personal letters and papers, her diaries and albums of photographs and other mementos and also albums of official war photographs and of photographs taken when Sir Winston and Lady Churchill were engaged in public duties or official visits. There are also folders of press cuttings from 1951 to 1955 mainly concerning Sir Winston as Prime Minister.

Amongst the fascinating personal correspondence in these papers, is the interesting material relating to Lady Spencer-Churchill's work as Chairman of the Red Cross Aid to Russia Fund (including details of her visit to Russia), President of the Young Women's Christian Association War Time Appeal and as Chairman of the Fulmer Chase Maternity Hospital for Wives of Junior Officers during the Second World War and as Chairman of the National Hostels Committee of the YWCA after the War.

The collection was deposited at Churchill Archives Centre by the Lady Soames, Baroness Spencer-Churchill's daughter, at various stages between January 1981 and March 2000.

The collection is owned by Churchill College, Cambridge.

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill of Chartwell, CSCT

Selected documents from this collection have been published in "Clementine Churchill" by Mary Soames (Cassell Ltd, London, 1979) and "Speaking for Themselves: the personal letters of Winston and Clementine Churchill" edited by Mary Soames (Doubleday, London, 1998).

Churchill Archives Centre holds the papers of Sir Winston Churchill (references GBR/014/CHAR and GBR/014/CHUR) plus a range of related archive collections. These include the papers of Churchill's son Randolph, press photographs, press cuttings, the Broadwater Collection of Churchill family photographs and albums and an oral history session on Clementine Churchill, CHOH 3/CSCT.

Churchill Archives Centre also has a microfilm copy of Churchill's Prime Ministerial Office papers, 1940-1945 (Public Record Office classes PREM 3 and PREM 4) and holds the papers of several people whose careers were closely linked with Churchill, such as Sir John Colville, Sir George Harvie-Watt, and Sir John Martin. A list of these collections is available at: http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/collections/classified/Churchill.shtml. Catalogues to these collections are being added to the Janus website.

A copy of this catalogue is available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, the National Register of Archives, Kew and on the Janus website, http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/.

The collection was originally catalogued at Churchill Archives Centre in 1985. The catalogue was revised and updated by Natalie Adams of Churchill Archives Centre in March 2004.