Sesquicentennial

150th Anniversary of Birth of Sir Winston Churchill

“On the 30th Nov, at Blenheim Palace, the Lady Randolph Churchill, prematurely, of a son.”

Thus read the first mention of the life of Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill. The announcement appeared under “Births” on the front page of The Times on 3 December 1874. This month marks the sesquicentennial of Churchill’s birth, an occasion being recognized by Churchillians all over the world.

The birth took place at half past one on a Monday morning in Blenheim Palace, home of the baby’s grandfather, the seventh Duke of Marlborough. Later that day, the duke’s younger son, Lord Randolph Churchill, described the circumstances of the birth of his own eldest son in a letter to Clara Jerome, mother of his wife Jennie:

“I have just time to write a line…to tell you that all has up to now thank God gone off very well with my darling Jennie. She had a fall on Tuesday walking with the shooters, and a rather imprudent and rough drive in a pony carriage brought on the pains on Saturday night. We tried to stop them, but it was no use. They went on all Sunday….The country Doctor [Frederick Taylor] is however a clever man, and the baby was safely born at 1:30 this morning after about eight hours labour.

“She suffered a good deal poor darling, but was very plucky and had no chloroform. The boy is wonderfully pretty so everybody says dark eyes and hair and very healthy considering its prematureness. My mother and Clementine [the Marchioness Camden] have been everything to Jennie, and she could not be more comfortable.

“We have just got a most excellent nurse and wet nurse coming down this afternoon, and please God all will go very well with both.” Lord Randolph concluded with the words, “I hope the baby things will come with all speed. We have to borrow some from the Woodstock Solicitor’s wife.” Baby Winston had arrived several weeks prematurely. The birth had been intended for London, which left the family without any baby clothes. The wife of the local solicitor, however, was also expecting and had a supply on hand.

The birth was officially registered in “the sub-district of Woodstock in the County of Oxford” on 23 December. The baptism took place four days later on 27 December in “the Chapel of Blenheim Palace” with the Rev. Henry Willam Yule MA BCL officiating in his capacity as the Chaplain of Blenheim.

In both the registration and baptismal records, the child’s Christian names were given as “Winston Leonard” and the surname as “Spencer-Churchill.” Winston was an old family name and the Christian name of the father of the first Duke of Marlborough. Leonard was the name of the baby’s maternal grandfather, Leonard Jerome.

In time, both Lord Randolph and his son quietly dropped the hyphenated surname. Winston went so far as to drop the use of his true middle name and style himself Winston S. Churchill, but during his school days at Harrow he was still listed alphabetically under the letter S. The true full name, however, does appear on Churchill’s gravestone at Bladon, close to Blenheim. It should further be noted that Churchill’s death in 1965 was also reported on the front page of The Times, albeit with many more details than given in the report of his birth in 1874.

Bulletin #198 — Nov 2024