O G JENNIE, WINSTON, AND HITLER'S SORRY ASS

 

Three young girls sailed over the ocean to London and Paris and caused a sensation with their wit, beauty, and charm.  They were the O G Penny Princesses, the three girls who started the wave of over seas marriages between girls rejected from proper American society and the British nobility.  The first married charmed the Prince of Wales, traveled the world, and captivated those who knew her.  Her son smoked a lot cigars, drank a lot of booze, and sounded the alarm that some German chap called Hitler might be up to no good. 

Jeanette Jerome was born in Brooklyn on January 9th 1854 to Leonard and Clara Jerome. Leonard was a financier and speculator. Clara wanted herself and her daughters Jennie, Leonie, and Clara to enter society. Leonard's penchant for opera singers - he built a small theater in the Jerome mansion - ensured the Jerome girls would never be accepted. Clara informed Leonard that she would be taking the girls to Paris and Leonard could pay the rent and foot the bills and occasionally visit.

When the Prussian Army invaded Paris in 1871 the Jerome's fled to London. Jennie's dark good looks and skill at the piano ensured her popularity amongst the upper class. Prince Edward Albert, Prince of Wales, took an immediate shine to Jenny (for the rest of the month on this blog Bertie will take a shine to a lot of girls.) But Jenny and Lord Randolph Churchill were drawn to each other after meeting at a dance. Randolph was a younger son, meaning no title and little money. The two didn't care. Randolph proposed three days later. When the parents of both Jennie and Randolph found out they objected. But love, with an assist from Bertie, won out. Both sets of parents agreed to the marriage as long as Randolph could gain a seat in Parliament. He won the next election. In April 1874 Jenny and Randolph married at the London Embassy in Paris.

Eight months later their son Winston was born. When asked about the suspicious early timing of his birth, Winston replied "Although present at the occasion, I have no recollection of the events leading up to it." After their marriage Randolph and Jennie resided at Blenhiem, the ancestral Churchill home. The palace was drafty and without the modern conveniences American Jennie was used to. The Churchills read newspapers for one hour each morning as to prepare for intelligent dinner conversation that evening. Jennie thought she was of a higher social position than Randolph's mother and sisters. Jenny criticized their clothes and taste in decor.  Both Jennie and the Churchills were relieved when Jennie and Randolph moved to a house in London.

The raising of Winston and his younger brother John was left largely to nannies, as was custom. Jennie spent little time with Winston when he was a boy ; Winston adored her. The pair would grow close when Winston became a young adult. In her time in London, Jennie entertained Bertie and the Marlborough House Set and campaigned for Randolph's re-election to parliament. Jennie was of course friends with the girls who made the first trips across the sea, Minnie Padget and Consuelo Yznaga.

Randolph died in 1895 and although cash poor, Jenny had freedom to do as she pleased and wealthy connections to assist her. Jenny also carried on an affair with Bertie as one of his mistresses. Jenny campaigned avidly to aid in the Boer War efforts ; Winston fought for the British army. Jenny chartered the hospital ship The Maine to care for wounded soldiers. In 1898 she met George Cornwallis-West, a captain in the Scots Guards 16 days older than Winston. The two married but drifted apart and divorced in 1914. Jenny wrote her memoirs in 1908. In June of 1918 she married Montagu Phippen Porch - 3 years younger than Winston. In 1921 Jennie broke her leg in a fall, gangrene set in and she lost her leg to amputation. She never fully recovered from her injury and died June 29th, 1921. Her son Winston stood parliament, held many government positions, and was Prime Minister. He orated endlessly against Hitler when no other European governments saw Hitler as a threat. He convinced FDR to enter America in W W II. Winston never would have been born if Jennie had not moved overseas as a young girl. In an odd twist of fate, New York City Society snobbery saved the world.

SOURCES:

Lady Randolph Churchill. Wikipedia.

FURTHER MEDIA : 

BOOKS :

That Churchill Woman ~ Stephanie Barron 

The American Adventuress ~ C.W. Gortner

Lady Clementine ~ Marie Benedict (Winston's Wife)

The Husband Hunters ~ Anne de Courcy

The Transatlantic Marriage Bureau ~ Julie Ferry

To Marry an English Lord ~ Gail MacColl / Carol McD Wallace

PODCASTS :

Graham, Beckett / Vollenweider, Susan, hosts. "Jennie Jerome Churchill." The History Chicks, Episode 10, Wondery, 30 June 2011.

Graham, Beckett / Vollenweider, Susan, hosts. "Gilded Age Heiresses." Episode 9, The History Chicks, Wonder, 2 June 2011.

Raymond, Carl, host. "The ‘Real’ Buccaneers : Gilded Age Million Dollar Princesses." The Gilded Gentleman, Episode 57, Bowery Boys Media, 5 September 2023. 

VIDEOS : 

Fabulous, Fierce, and Feisty ~ The Gilded Age's Most Notorious Dollar Princess - Jennie Jerome

FURTHER INTEREST : 

Blenheim Palace

Winston Churchill. Wikipedia.

FURTHER VIEWING :

Million Dollar American Princesses