Janus: Papers accumulated by Henry Winston (Peregrine) Churchill

Churchill/PCHL contains:
1	Papers of Lady Randolph Churchill, mainly letters to her son, John S Churchill [known as "Jack"]
2	Letters from Lord Randolph Churchill, mainly to John S Churchill [known as "Jack"]
3	Letters from Winston Churchill
4	Letters from and to John S Churchill
5	Letters to and from Lady Gwendeline Churchill
6	Letters from John G Churchill
7	Other correspondence and papers of Peregrine Churchill
8	Photographs
9	Legal and financial papers

More information

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Papers accumulated by Henry Winston (Peregrine) Churchill

Title	Papers of Lady Randolph Churchill, mainly letters to her son, John S Churchill [known as "Jack"]
Reference	PCHL 1
Creator	Churchill, Jennie Spencer-, 1854-1921, née Jerome, Lady Randolph Churchill
Covering Dates	1893–1927 (Transcripts prepared in 2005.)
Extent and Medium	7 files plus 2 volumes

Content and context

Jennie [Jeanette] Jerome was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 9 January 1854, the daughter of Leonard and Clara Jerome. She married Lord Randolph Churchill on 15 April 1874, with whom she had two sons, Winston Spencer Churchill and John Strange Churchill (known as Jack). Lady Randolph moved in aristocratic circles and supported Lord Randolph's political career and later that of her son Winston, using her influence and contacts to promote him. In 1899, Lady Randolph founded and edited a magazine, The Anglo Saxon Review, which lasted for 10 issues but was not a commercial success. During the Boer War, she chaired a committee which set up a hospital ship, Maine, and sailed to South Africa on it (her son Jack was one of her patients on board). She married George Cornwallis West in 1900, he was only two weeks older than Winston Churchill, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1913. In 1918, she married her third husband, Montagu Porch, a colonial administrator in Nigeria, and their marriage lasted until her death on 29 June 1921.

The letters included in this section of the collection shed light on the closeness of Lady Randolph and her sons, especially the letters in PCHL 1/5 which touch on her plans to marry George Cornwallis West, and she freely and frequently confides details of her financial worries. She reflects also on Winston Churchill's career plans and encourages Jack to further his own career and to think carefully about the options which are available to him. The letters also provide evidence of the highly social aristocratic lifestyle which Lady Randolph led as many of the letters are written from grand country houses where the parties included members of the aristocracy. There are typewritten transcripts of the letters prepared by Celia Lee filed next to the originals, in PCHL 1/1-1/5. There are also two bound volumes used as guest and visitors' books.

Index Terms

Family

Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer (1874-1965) Knight, statesman and historian

Churchill, Jennie Spencer - (1854-1921) née Jerome, Lady Randolph Churchill

Churchill, John Strange Spencer (1880-1947) soldier, businessman

Churchill/PCHL 1 contains:

Letters from Lady Randolph Churchill to John S Churchill. Subjects covered include: Lord Randolph Churchill's illness; trips to Kissingen, Paris and world tour with Lord Randolph and his doctor, Dr Keith; and Winston Churchill.
1 file.

1893–1894

Letters from Lady Randolph Churchill to John S Churchill. Subjects covered include: Winston Churchill including his military career, time at Aldershot and plans to travel to Cuba and India; her time in Paris and a visit by John S Churchill; the illness and death of Clara Jerome [her mother]; and Christmas celebrations at Blenheim Palace.
1 file.

1895–1896

Letters from Lady Randolph Churchill to John S Churchill. Subjects covered include: John S Churchill's stay in Paris to improve his French and arrangements for him to meet with Henri de Breteuil and Bourke Cockran, plans for his career; Winston Churchill and his finances, arrangements for him to go to India [as a cavalry officer], plans for his speech to the Primrose League [at Claverton Down, Bath], General Sir Bindon Blood's high opinion of him, his letters to the Daily Telegraph; and her stay at Cliveden.
1 file.

1896–1897

Letters from Lady Randolph Churchill to John S Churchill. Subjects covered include: arrangements for Hugh Warrender to stay; Winston Churchill's [first] book "The Story of the Malakand Field Force" and opinions of [Herbert] Kitchener; Lady Randolph's sprained ankle, sitting for a portrait by [Emile] Fuchs, work on the [Anglo Saxon] Review [Lady Randolph Churchill's magazine]; financial worries; plans to meet Jack in France and his work for Ernest Cassel.
1 file.

1898–1901

Letters from Lady Randolph Churchill to John S Churchill. Subjects covered include: the Boer War and anxieties about the safety of Winston Churchill and Jack, her work on the hospital ship Maine; Winston's political aspirations, opinion of her writing, and mention of his relationship with Pamela Plowden [later Pamela, Lady Lytton]; Lady Randolph's plans to marry George Cornwallis West, reassurance of her feelings for her sons; financial worries; meeting King Edward VII; arrangements for leasing Winston's house. Also includes a draft letter to her mother in law, Patsy Cornwallis West, on the breakdown of her marriage to George Cornwallis West.
1 file.

1900–1910

Letters from Lady Randolph Churchill to Winston Churchill. Subjects covered include: Jack and Winston's holiday in Switzerland; the good effect that Japan was having on Lord Randolph Churchill's health; her own impressions of Japan, particularly of Kyoto, a rickshaw ride and the funeral of a local governor; reports on the war [the first Sino-Japanese war]; Jack's progress at Harrow; her distress at being so far away from her sons; the results of one of Winston's exams at Sandhurst and the need to pass and try hard; asking him not to take foolish risks at riding and not to think too much about his amusement but to work at his German; Lady Randolph's report on the work of the hospital ship Maine; her concern for her sister, Leonie Leslie [earlier Leonie Jerome] during her pregnancy; press criticisms of Winston's despatches from the Boer War; whether she should marry George Cornwallis-West; the devotion of Pamela Plowden [later Pamela, Lady Lytton] to Winston; his future career; publishing arrangements with Longman's for ["London to Ladysmith"] and arguments against turning the book into a play; writing her own "Hospital Letters". Also includes a letter from Lady Randolph on Winston's behalf to Inspector Campbell of the Natal Government Railways, thanking the armoured train staff for their testimonial to Winston's courage in attempting to save the train from attack.
1 file.

1894–1900

Lady Randolph Churchill: general correspondence. Includes: letter from the War Office on the Government's thanks to the committee of the American Hospital Ship Fund for their offer to fit out the SS Maine as a hospital ship; letter from the committee to Lady Randolph thanking her for her work as their chairman; a telegram from Lady Randolph to [?] 1st Lord Rothschild on reaching South Africa and a telegram from Cecil Rhodes welcoming her; Lady Randolph's first class train ticket for Durban; a letter from Elihu Root, American Secretary of War, expressing the American Army's thanks to the committee; a letter from Sir Edward Ward [Permanent Under-Secretary of State, War Office] expressing the Secretary of State for War's gratitude for the work of the Maine; letter from Charlotte Knollys, lady-in-waiting to Queen Alexandra, on Lady Randolph's memoirs, on the Queen's request for her to avoid the subject of the "train"; Lady Randolph's admittance card to the trial of Sir Roger Casement; two letters from 2nd Lieutenant Ivan Marks describing his flying experience in France and on his chances of being declared fit; letters to Lady Randolph from people trying to find hospital work and in thanks for her kindness while they were patients at the American Women's Hospital at Lancaster Gate [London]. Also includes: a score card from a shooting party at Sandringham [Norfolk], with participants including the Prince of Wales [later King Edward VII]; copy of Lady Randolph's death certificate.
1 file.

c 1898-Jul 1921

Visitors' Book for Salisbury Hall. This volume was originally used by Lady Randolph Churchill to keep a record of quotations. However, the majority of the volume was used as a visitors' book to be signed by visitors to Salisbury Hall and includes photographs of the house, gardens and of parties there. The signatures include friends and family. There is a loose sheet of handwritten music inserted into this volume setting Lady Randolph's name to music with an illustration of two cherubs playing the harp which seems to have been a design for Lady Randolph's bookplate.
1 volume; The 'head' of this volume is slightly longer than the 'tail' and it is therefore possible to ascertain which part of this book was originally the front (in this case the page which was used to note down quotations)..

1904–06 Dec 1906

Mermaid's Tavern Guest Book/Library Catalogue. This volume was originally used as a guest book for the Mermaid's Tavern and contains a letter from the bookbinder with instructions on how it should be used. It includes signatures of members of the Royal Family (including George V and Queen Mary), of the aristocracy and Lady Randolph's friends and family and includes some notes of the scenes in which they had performed. . The other half of the volume has been used later to catalogue a library, perhaps Lady Randolph Churchill's, possibly in connection with the administration of her estate by John S Churchill. It also includes an envelope of slips cut from auction catalogues recording the sales of some of the books.
1 volume; Given the spacing between the raised spine bands (ie larger gap between last raised band and 'tail' of volume), it is possible to ascertain which part of this book was originally the front.

20 July 1912–1927