Forster Margaret Elizabeth - Churchills grandmama : Frances, 7th Duchess of Marlborough

To dearest John, Simon, Benedict, Nicholas
my support and inspiration

My grateful thanks to the following:

His Grace The Duke of Marlborough, for generous access to the Archives and Library at Blenheim, for permission to reproduce a great deal of material from these sources, and for writing the Foreword;

Lady Soames, Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, Lady Mairi Bury, Celia Sandys, Anthea Morton-Saner, Hugo Vickers, Professor Anthony Fletcher, and those who prefer not to be named, for their invaluable help, encouragement and advice;

Frances Harris (Head of Modern Historical Manuscripts at the British Library), Richard Olney (Historical Manuscripts Commission), Allen Packwood (Director of the Churchill Archives Centre) and Caroline Herbert, Carole Kenwright (Property Manager at Chartwell), Francesca Odell and Gudrun Muller (National Portrait Gallery), Dawn van Ee (Library of Congress), Richard Edgcumbe (Victoria and Albert Museum), Lucy MacMillan, Henry Porter and Els Rowlands (Porter-Design), Rowan Gilhespie and Louise Holbrow, Roger Shepherd, Maldwin Drummond, Shaheeda Sabir (Churchill Permissions), Rev. Roger Humphreys, Richard and Marie Cragg, John Forster (Archivist to the Duke of Marlborough), whose specialist knowledge has been given so generously;

the staffs of Oxfordshire Records Office, Durham Records Office, Oxfordshire Centre for Local Studies and Woodstock Public Library (especially Gill Morris and Anne Elsmore), and Dr Melanie White of the Sorbonne, my researcher in Dublin, and the many individual members of the public who wrote to me of their own accord or responded to the TV documentaries about Blenheim;

my many colleagues at Blenheim Palace, in particular John Hoy, Dominic Hare, Heather Carter, Victoria Bellamy, Sandra French, Antonia Keaney, Caroline McCormack, Tim Mayhew, Hannah Payne, Odette Christie de Rivas, Cathy Tuckey, Karen Wiseman;

the Palace Guides, in particular Marae Griffin, Sue Thorne, Veronica Thorneloe, Ros Campbell, Lesley Deane, Jenny Grubb, Liz Chapman, Christine Gadsby, Julia Lennon, Wendy Neale, Sumie Smith, and the welcoming Guides at Floors Castle;

Sue Hawker, headmistress now retired, Tracey Smith her successor, Maureen Clifford, Wendy Heppell, Caroline Hudspeth and all the staff at Bladon C.E. Primary School, Oxfordshire;

my family and friends, my sister Wendy Heslop, my brother Jack Heslop, Mary and Nicholas Grey, Eileen and Bob Mason, Carol and Allen Mason, Robert and Ann Parkin, Jeri Bapasola, Gill Brounger, Monica and Gerard Coleman, Tineke and Peter Gill, Alan Jamieson, Sarah and Michael Lyon, Irene and Tom Maddison, Harold and Pamela Redwood, Mary and Chris White, Ann and George Wilson, my sons Simon, Ben and Nicholas for their unfailing encouragement and support, often of a very practical kind, and my husband John, who devoted so much time and patience to researching illustrations.

Finally, to Shelley Grimwood of The History Press, whose experienced advice and insight over many months has been invaluable to me, and to all her colleagues, I offer my most grateful thanks.

Margaret Elizabeth Forster

2009

C ONTENTS

1. Frances, 7th Duchess of Marlborough, aged about twelve

2. Wynyard Hall and Park, a watercolour by J.W. Carmichael

3. Frances Anne, 3rd Marchioness of Londonderry, 1819, by Sir Thomas Lawrence

4. John Winston, 7th Duke of Marlborough, 1843, marble, Lawrence MacDonald

5. Frances, 7th Duchess of Marlborough, 1843, marble, Lawrence MacDonald

6. Londonderry House, Park Lane, London

7. Frances, 7th Duchess of Marlborough, by Buckner, 1840s

8. Silver centrepiece, Blenheim Palace, by Robert Garrard

9. 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, 10th Hussars, a bronze

10. Frances, 7th Duchess of Marlborough, photographed in the 1860s

11. John Winston, 7th Duke of Marlborough, photographed in the 1860s

12. Frances, John Winston and members of the family, c .1860

14. Pages from the Visitors Book at Blenheim Palace

15. Royal Yacht Squadron yacht Wyvern , 1876

16. Winston Churchill, 1880, aged seven

17. Frances, 7th Duchess of Marlborough, 1880, aged 56

18. The Famine Relief Committee, 1879

19. The Irish Famine Memorial, Toronto, by Rowan Gillespie, 2007

20. The Fourth Party, 1880, a cartoon by Spy in Vanity Fair

21. Subscribers to the Famine Relief Fund

22. Illuminated address of thanks, 1877

23. Citation from the City of Dublin, 1880

24. Frances, 7th Duchess of Marlborough, 1880

25. Memorial of Lord Randolph, Blenheim Chapel, by Waldo Story

26. Memorial inscription

27. Winston Churchill, 1895

28. Blenheim Palace

29. Winston Churchill, 1900

Many of the photographs in this book have been taken by Richard Cragg, my friend and colleague at Blenheim Palace to whom I express my deepest gratitude. Without his skill, talent and unfailing enthusiasm a great many of the illustrations simply would not have been possible. I am grateful, too, to my son, Simon Forster, for his discovery and photography of the Famine Memorial sculptures in Toronto.

The author and publisher are grateful for permission to reproduce images:

Alamy, 33; Richard Cragg, 10; Rowan Gillespie, 22 (and inset); the Reverend Canon R. Humphreys, 32; His Grace The Duke of Marlborough, 1, 5, 6, 8 (photographed by Porter-Design), 9, 12-14, 16-17, 20-1, 23, 24-7, 29-30; Private Collection, 2, 4, 7; R. Shepherd, 18; TopFoto, 16, 31.

I am very pleased to introduce this book about my great great-grandmother, Frances, 7th Duchess of Marlborough and grandmother of Sir Winston Churchill. Almost an exact contemporary of Queen Victoria, she has never had the recognition she deserves. The picture of her in the public eye is of a Victorian martinet, unbending and rather cold. This book throws a clear and rewarding light on a lady who, it is now revealed, had the warmest of hearts and a most generous nature. By examining her commitment as a caring grandmother, notably of Winston Churchill, by demonstrating her commitment to the local community, especially in the field of education, and by sharing the sadness in her life, when she buried her five sons as well as her husband, this book brings alive the personality of a truly admirable woman.

However, it was the breaking out of famine yet again in Ireland during her husbands term as Viceroy which moved her on to the world stage and drew from her talents and qualities hitherto unrecognised. In her speedy and effective creation and administration of her Famine Relief Fund on an international scale, she revealed not only her warmth and compassion but also qualities of leadership, judgement and organisation of the highest order. The letters of thanks and farewell she received throughout the Irish press, from all shades of political opinion, are particularly illuminating and make moving reading.

I welcome this publication with its vivid and stimulating insights into a hitherto overlooked member of my family.