Ek het oor die Amerikaner, Nancy Astor (1879-1964), en haar invloed op bv die Britse politiek geskryf (SêNet 26 en 28.02.2013). Dan was daar 'n Amerikaner, Susan Mary Alsop (1918-2004), wat in Frankryk en in haar eie land by die politiek betrokke was (SêNet 2.07.2013). In die titel van Alsop se biografie word sy "American Lady" genoem. Ook tersaaklik vir my skrywe vandag is wat ek oor Winston Churchill meegedeel het (SêNet 30.11.2012).
In daardie boek van Cita Stelzer, Dinner with Churchill (2012), staan: "Churchill undoubtedly inherited and absorbed from his mother ... his skills as a brilliant conversationalist and dinner party organiser ... She, like her son, planned dinners to include both good conversation and beautiful surroundings" (p 19). "She carefully seated strangers and, often, people who were not friendly, next to each other at her dinner parties, calling them the 'dinner of deadly enemies.' Churchill said of his mother that 'In my interest she left no wire unpulled, no stone unturned and no cutlet uncooked.' As a young man, he once sent her a letter of New Year's wishes, with a sketch of her holding a menu" (p 31). Dit is bekend dat Churchill goed kon teken en skilder. Stelzer skryf oor Winston se ma, Jeanette (Jennie), gebore Jerome (1854-1921), "She was noted for her beauty and her attraction to a variety of men" (p 250).
Teen hierdie agtergrond skryf ek vandag oor nog 'n dame wat in Amerika gebore is, op die Britse politiek 'n diepgaande invloed uitgeoefen het en wie se biografie 'n titel soortgelyk aan dié van Alsop het. Ek verwys na Charles Higham (1931-2012) se boek, Dark Lady: Winston Churchill's Mother and Her World (London: Virgin Books, 2006, 250p). Die naam van die uitgewery klink nogal ironies as 'n mens met Jennie se leefwyse bekend is. Op die stofomslag word die boektitel soos volg aangevul: "The tempestuous life of Jennie Jerome: heiress, lover, freethinker - and mother of Britain's most famous statesman."
Jennie is in Brooklyn, New York City, gebore. Haar pa, Leonard, kon sy voorgeslag in Cornwall terugdateer tot die 16de eeu. "Cornishmen and women were traditionally famous for their dark skin and romantic temperaments" (p 3). Daar is ook die onjuiste storie dat Jennie se ma, Clarissa, "part-Iroquois native American" was (p 3). Die waarheid is eerder dat "one of her ancestors wiped out an entire tribe of Pequot Indians" (p 5). Die titel van Jennie se biografie sinspeel ook op wat Cynthia Asquith gesê het: "In conversation with George Moore, Cynthia would describe Jennie as black, commenting that she must like the idea of being the only white woman in Nigeria [toe sy met haar derde man getroud was] as opposed to being the only black one in London" (p 218). Jennie het donker hare gehad maar die benaming "Dark Lady" is by uitstek as beeldspraak bedoel; soortgelyk aan "dark horse". Dit verwys klaarblyklik nie net na Jennie se uiterlike voorkoms nie, maar veral na haar waardes soos vergestalt in haar leefwyse.
Haar pa was bekend as "the most corrupt ... genially ruthless manipulator of Wall Street" (p 3). Leonard was "up to his eyes in cheerful corruption" (p 17). Hy word beskryf as "a happy heathen" wat Jennie nie laat doop het nie (p 7). Wat hy gedoen het om geld te maak, was om bv vals gerugte oor 'n maatskappy in die pers te versprei sodat hy aandele in daardie maatskappy goedkoop kon bekom. Soms het dinge so warm vir hom in Amerika geword dat hy met sy gesin na Frankryk of Engeland uitgewyk het. In dié proses het Jennie goeie kennis van bv tale bekom en 'n uitstekende pianis geword. Die jong Jennie word beskryf as "strong-willed, sharp, single-minded and passionately in love with life" (p 8). "At fifteen in 1869, Jennie was already a full-blown beauty" (p 25). Sy was "a combination of virgin and sensualist" (p 36).
In 1873, op die Isle of Wight, is die 19-jarige Jennie aan Lord Randolph Churchill (1849-1895) voorgestel. Op skool was hy bekend vir sy "rebellious ... disgraceful conduct ... Randolph refused to attend church on Sundays" (p 35). "Pleading with Randolph to change his mind would be like ... taking on an army with the jawbone of an ass" (p 36). Randolph se ouers was in finansiële nood, gevolglik was hulle ten gunste van sy troue met Jennie, wat 'n skatryk pa gehad het. "Randolph was being sold off like a racehorse or a prize bull" (p 38). Sy ouers het vereis dat Randolph, na sy huwelik in 1874 met Jennie, tot die politiek toetree. Randolph "was nothing when she met him" (p 226). Danksy Jennie se ondersteuning het hy 'n setel gewen. "She was the power behind Randolph's every move" (p 73). "Many said she would make a better statesman than her husband" (p 104).
Die egpaar het in Blenheim Palace gaan bly wat as "a great quarry of stones above ground" beskryf is (p 42); ook: "'tis a house but not a dwelling" (p 44). "As she grew to know her husband, Jennie was faced with his flaws of personality: his insecure health; his habit of chain-smoking ... ; his effeminate dandyish clothing ... ; his irritating deafness" (p 49). Albei was agnosties. Hulle eerste kind, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965), is moontlik te kort na hulle troue gebore, want daar is teenstrydige rekords oor die presiese datum in 1874 waarop hulle in die huwelik bevestig is. Volgens ander bronne het Winston soos volg op hierdie soort spekulasie oor sy geboorte gereageer: "Although present on the occasion, I have no clear recollection of the events leading up to it."
"Randolph had suspected his brother, Lord Blandford, of having a sexual interest in Jennie, an opinion shared by Blandford's wife, the inescapable Albertha" (p 52). Randolph en Jennie het net een ander kind gehad, John (Jack) Strange Spencer Churchill (1880-1947). Anders as Winston is hy nie gedoop nie. Mettertyd het Jack 'n aandele-makelaar in Londen geword.
By geleentheid het Randolph inkriminerende briewe van Edward (1841-1910), die Prins van Wallis, later koning Edward VII (1901-1910), oor een van sy seksuele verhoudings in die hande gekry. Daarmee kon Randolph die troonopvolger afdreig: "He held 'the Crown of England' in his hands" (p 57). Vir 'n geruime tyd Jennie en Randolph "remain banned from society" (p 58). "The prince ... would never visit a house at which they were received" (57). Later was Randolph nogeens in die moeilikheid toe hy 'n handtekening vervals het, wat verkeerdelik tot die ontslag van 'n Britse ambassadeur gelei het. Les bes het hy sy loopbaan geruïneer deur in 1885 as minister oor buitensporige en korrupte verdedigingsuitgawes te bedank. "He has thrown himself from the top of the ladder and he will never reach it again" (p 118). "Like so many noble and misunderstood exposés of evil in high places, Randolph's had no effect" (p 121).
Die genoemde Prins van Wallis was mettertyd moontlik een van dié met wie Jennie 'n seksuele verhouding gehad het. "When he became King Edward VII in 1901, he included Jennie in the so-called 'Loose Box' at his coronation in Westminster Abbey; it was said to be restricted to women whose favours he had enjoyed" (p 161). Naas Jennie was daar agt dames in hierdie "royal box" (p 181). "Jennie stole the show by wearing a simple white dress with almost no jewellery while her Loose Box companions were festooned like Christmas trees" (p 181).
Ander mans wat in Jennie se seksuele gunste gedeel het, was Carl Kinsky, John Delacour, Frederick Carr Glynn, William Waldorf Astor en Caryl John Ramsden. Sy het Thomas Boscawen se toenadering afgeweer, maar is toe deur hom verkrag. "Later, incredibly, she forgave him" (p 67). Daar is al beweer dat Jack, Winston se broer, sy kind was. "Jennie could not resist a handsome face and figure" (p 98). "Jennie couldn't live without a healthy male making love to her" (p 127). Op sy beurt "Randolph was involved with the beautiful ... Gladys de Grey" (p 100). "Jennie could not deal with Randolph's relationship with a woman who equalled her in looks and in social eminence" (p 109). Hulle het egskeiding ernstig oorweeg maar dit nie deurgevoer nie. "From then on Randolph would accept Jennie's lovers, and she would accept his" (p 121). Randolph se volgende vriendin was Frances (Daisy) Evelyn Maynard.
Die outeur het nie daarin geslaag om sy gegewens interessant aan te bied nie. Daar val te min klem op Jennie en daar is glad te veel besonderhede oor bv ander mense en die Britse politiek, hoewel sulke inligting soms nodige agtergrond verskaf. Wat opval, is die mate waarin politici se handelinge deur persoonlike (bv finansiële) belange beïnvloed word. Die Churchills was feitlik deurgaans geneig om bo hulle inkomste te leef en was deurlopend afhanklik van finansiering deur veral Ernest Cassel en Natty Rothschild. "The Churchills had a stake in South African diamonds and gold through Natty and the plenipotentiary Cecil Rhodes" (p 140). 'n Ander onrusbarende aspek is die manipulering van hofsake deur koninklikes en politici, bv "Royal influence prevented the case from coming to court" (p 139-140).
Jennie het Monte Carlo besoek, "foolishly gambling away money that was needed for her sons' education; she announced her purse was stolen there" (p 142). In Parys in 1893 "she rode, skated, gambled at the racetrack and danced up a storm at society balls" (p 146). Higham skryf oor Jennie se "reckless extravagance with dresses, jewellery and furs" (p 162). Na haar pa, het haar ma in 1895 gesterf: "She left nothing to Jennie, writing in her will that she had already advanced sums to her, and so her meagre estate was divided between Clarita and Leonie" (p 154), Jennie se susters. Hierna het Jennie se geldnood voortgeduur. "By early 1898, Jennie's need for money led her to borrow £17 000 on her life insurance, and Winston and Jack had to sign off part of their expected inheritances to make that possible" (p 165). Higham skryf oor Jennie se "fascination with murder and murderers" (p 87). Toe Winston later minister van binnelandse sake was, het sy hom beïnvloed om tronkhervorming te weeg te bring.
Winston word as kind beskryf as 'n bedorwe "egomaniac" wat met bliksoldaatjies gespeel het (p 78). "Winston was an arrogant and troublesome child" (p 81). Jennie "was shocked to find that his spelling was bad, his composition feeble, his diligence nonexistent; he was naughty, weak in geography, elementary in drawing, and (a comic touch) 'rather greedy at meals'" (p 93). In 'n volgende skoolrapport is Winston beskryf as "'exceedingly bad; he is not to be trusted to do anything;' he was 'a constant trouble to everybody, and is always in some scrape or other.' He was thus firmly in line with his father, and his grandfather, Leonard Jerome" (p 93). Winston se skoolhoof het hom beskryf as "forgetful, careless, unpunctual and 'irregular'" (p 130).
Toe Winston met sy weermagopleiding begin, Randolph "warned him that he was destined to be 'a social wastrel, one of the hundreds of the public school failures ... you will degenerate into a shabby, unhappy and futile existence'" (p 146). Winston "remained spoiled throughout his long and matchless political career" (p 146). "Most of his correspondence with Jennie involved his need for money" (p 163). Jennie "had given birth to a whirlwind" (p 156). Die mate waarin Winston die streke van sy ouers voortgesit het, blyk bv uit sy bedrog "by entering a substitute horse under the name of Surefoot" in die 4th Hussars' Challenge Cup Race in 1895 (p 159).
Winston het in 1908 met Clementine Hozier (1885-1977) getrou. Sy word beskryf as "beautiful and intelligent," maar sy was, soos so baie Britse hoë lui, 'n buite-egtelike kind (p 189). In hierdie kringe is dit etiket om nooit te sê na wie 'n baba lyk nie. As politikus was daar "the ironical contrast between Winston's proselytising for the underprivileged and his lavish weekends at Blenheim, not to mention his and Jack's dependence on the capitalists Rothchild and Cassel" (p 193-194). Oor die Eerste Wêreldoorlog: "Winston arrived at the front with a travelling bathtub and boiler and soon sent for sardines, chocolates, potted meats, Stilton cheese, cream, dried fruit and beefsteak pie" (p 217). "He was far happier in the line of fire, shells and bullets around him, than in the genteel jungle of Whitehall" (p 217-218).
Die Anglo-Boere-oorlog word "a war based ... on greed" genoem (p 172). Winston was deel daarvan in sy hoedanigheid as korrespondent van die Londense koerant, Morning Post. Sy broer, Jack, was as Britse soldaat in Suid-Afrika en is gewond. Jennie het geld gekollekteer en met die Maine tot in Durban gevaar waar die skip as hospitaal vir Britse gewondes gedien het. In haar boek, The Reminiscences of Lady Randolph Churchill (1908), "she invents a childhood spent in Trieste" en daar is ook "vivid descriptions of her experiences in South Africa" (p 187).
Jennie se tweede man was George Cornwallis-West (1874-1951), "the best-looking man in England" (p 178). Hulle is in 1900 getroud. "He might be able to help with money" (p 176). "He was believed to be the illegitimate son of the Prince of Wales" (p 167), maar "there is no evidence to support the much-published theory that he was George's father" (p 196). "George's background was as richly colourful and questionable as Jennie could have asked for ... his father owned the crumbling but romantic Ruthin Castle in Wales" (p 168). George was depressief, geneig tot selfmoord, "petulant, spoiled, a gambler and profligate" (p 168). en "almost exactly Winston's age" (p 169). "Jennie was older than George's mother" (p 176).
George was ook 'n soldaat in die Anglo-Boere-oorlog, maar was spoedig op pad terug na Engeland nadat hy sonsteek opgedoen het. George "suffered from the sense of inferiority," want hy was "reduced ... to insignificant jobs in industry" (p 179). Hy het homself "a kind of 'unpaid plumber' ... in overalls" genoem. "He was a semi-glorified clerk" (p 180). George het aan spiritisme geglo en aan séances deelgeneem. "Jennie had no time for such foolishness ... Jennie's marriage was going sour," onder meer weens "George's business ineptitudes" (p 186). Hy het "a lost male beauty in distress" geword (p 183).
"With her customary rashness" het Jennie besluit om 'n tydskrif, Anglo-Saxon Review, te begin. Dit was 'n duur mislukking. George het 'n verhouding met Pat Campbell aangeknoop. Toe haar huwelik met George verbrokkel, het Jennie besluit om 'n dramaturg te word en His Borrowed Plumes geskryf. Daarin staan: "What is love without passion? A garden without flowers, a hat without feathers, tobogganing without snow" (p 193). Die eerste opvoering was in 1909 in die Hicks Theatre. "The play was a disaster" (p 193). Nogtans het Jennie haar vir "a National Theatre in London" beywer, wat eers in 1963 werklikheid geword het. In 1914 het Jennie 'n egskeiding verkry en is George en Pat getroud.
Jennie se derde man was Montagu Porch (1877-1964), "a figure from a kitchen maid's romantic novelette" (p 204). Hy was amper 24 jaar jonger as Jennie en ook jonger as Winston. Wanneer Jennie na haar derde huwelik in 1918 na babas in stootwaentjies gekyk het, het skindertonge (volgens 'n ander bron) gespot dat sy besig was om haar volgende man uit te soek. Montagu was ook as soldaat in die Anglo-Boere-oorlog betrokke. Hy was 'n argeoloog en daarna in die Nigeriese koloniale diens. Hy word beskryf as "tense, high-strung, nervous and undisciplined" (p 205).
In 1916 is Jennie se linker groottoon afgesit, gevolglik het sy moeilik geloop. Montagu was dikwels in Afrika om na sy sakebelange om te sien en nie by Jennie in Londen nie. In Mei 1921 Jennie "was changing for tea when the bell rang; always punctual to a fault, she threw on her high-heeled Italian shoes too rapidly, and when she began her run downstairs she tripped and fell to the bottom, breaking an ankle and bones in her left leg" (p 225). Haar been is bo die knie afgesit. "Jennie was brave and calm, saying she would put her 'best foot forward' in the future" (p 225). Montagu het geen poging aangewend om huis toe te kom nie. In Junie 1921 is sy oorlede met haar twee seuns by haar. In en na die Eerste Wêreldoorlog, dus ook ten tye van Jennie se dood, was daar geen aanduiding dat Winston gedurende veral die Tweede Wêreldoorlog as 'n groot staatsman gereken sou word nie; eerder die teenoorgestelde in die lig van sy "disastrous early career" (p 226).
Winston word deur Higham beskryf as "the greatest stateman of the twentieth century. But she lived on in him: he reflected her strength, her single-minded optimism, her passion for living in the face of adversity, her patriotism, and her superb authority. In the last analysis, she would have been proud of him - as a lasting extension of herself" (p 226). Jennie was "the first American woman to influence British history both in and out of parliament. In all the vast mass of Churchilliana, insufficient mention has been made of the influence Jennie Jerome of Brooklyn Heights had on her first husband and on her illustrious, elder son" (p 226).
Dit lyk vir my asof Winston Churchill deur Higham oorskat word. Aan die ander kant onderskat Koos Bekker hom. Hy beweer Churchill "was 'n drinkende skoorsteen en 'n depressiewe vetsak" (Hannes Haasbroek, 'n Seun soos Bram, Kaapstad: Umuzi, 2011, p 324).
Johannes Comestor
Kommentaar
Dankie Comestor. Hul lewensverhaal nogal interessant.