April 28, 2023

Marigold Churchill Laid to Rest at Bladon

Finest Hour 196, Second Quarter 2022

Page 50

The Churchill family announced earlier this year that the body of Marigold Churchill, the fourth child of Winston and Clementine Churchill, was quietly moved in 2020 from its original resting place at Kensal Green Cemetery in London and reinterred at the churchyard of St. Martin’s, Bladon, where Marigold’s parents, sisters, and brother are all laid to rest.

Marigold Churchill was not yet three years old when she died of septicemia on 23 August 1921. She was buried three days later, and her body remained at Kensal Green for the next ninety-nine years. At the time of her death, no thought had been given to where any members of her family would be buried. Winston Churchill only decided on his own burial site quite late in his life, when he chose Bladon, where his own parents were already buried.

After Sir Winston’s death, the other members of his family were also buried at Bladon as time passed. Before her own death in 2014, Mary Soames supported moving the body of the older sister she never knew to Bladon, where Mary was herself interred with her husband Christopher Soames. To achieve this goal, however, required a lengthy and far from simple legal process.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Randolph Churchill, the President of the International Churchill Society, said, “We are very glad that this long and complicated process has been completed. It was something Lady Soames so wanted done. It feels right for Marigold to be with her parents and siblings for evermore.”

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Marigold’s headstone at Kensal Green Cemetery remains in place and must continue to do so because it is a listed monument. The grave, however, has now become a cenotaph. At Bladon, a new headstone has been placed that includes the name of both Marigold and her older sister Sarah (1914–1982). This stone is situated between a memorial stone for Diana Churchill (1909–1963), who was the eldest child, and the stone for Mary (1922–2014) and her husband Christopher (1920–1987). The grave of Randolph Churchill (1911–1968), only brother to the four sisters, rests nearby.