Mary Soames (1922–2014)
Autore di Clementine Churchill
Sull'Autore
Mary Spencer-Churchill was born at Chartwell, in the county of Kent in southeast England, on September 15, 1922. She was the youngest child of former United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill. During World War II, she enlisted as a private and served as a personal aide to her father for mostra altro several summit meetings, including the Potsdam conference in 1945, where her father, President Harry S. Truman and the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin planned the postwar world. She married Christopher Soames and nurtured his career as a prominent Tory politician, ambassador to France, and the last governor of one of Britain's last major colonies, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). After her husband's death in 1987, she wrote a series of books about her family including Clementine Churchill: The Biography of a Marriage, which won the Wolfson History Prize, and A Daughter's Tale: The Memoir of Winston Churchill's Youngest Child. She was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Dame of the British Empire. In 2005, Queen Elizabeth appointed her a Ladies Companion of the Garter, Britain's highest chivalric order. She died on May 31, 2014 at the age of 91. (Bowker Author Biography) mostra meno
Fonte dell'immagine: U.S. Army Signal Corps photo, cropped by uploader (trumanlibrary.org)
Opere di Mary Soames
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Etichette
Informazioni generali
- Altri nomi
- Soames, Mary Soames, Baroness
- Data di nascita
- 1922-09-15
- Data di morte
- 2014-05-31
- Luogo di sepoltura
- St Martin's Church, Bladon, Oxfordshire, England, UK
- Sesso
- female
- Nazionalità
- UK
- Luogo di nascita
- Chartwell, Westerham, Kent, England, UK
- Luogo di morte
- London, England, UK
- Luogo di residenza
- Chartwell, Westerham, Kent, England, UK
Castle Mill House, Odiham, Hampshire, England, UK - Istruzione
- Manor House School, Limpsfield, Surrey, England, UK
- Attività lavorative
- biographer
aide-de-camp
autobiographer
British Army - Relazioni
- Churchill, Winston S. (father)
Churchill, Randolph (brother)
Churchill, Lady Randolph (grandmother)
Churchill, Lord Randolph (grandfather)
Churchill, Sarah (sister)
Devonshire, Deborah (second cousin) (mostra tutto 7)
Soames, Christopher (husband) - Organizzazioni
- Auxiliary Territorial Service (WWII)
- Premi e riconoscimenti
- Order of the Garter (Lady Companion ∙ 2005)
Order of the British Empire (Dame Commander)
Royal Society of Literature (Fellow)
Order of the British Empire (Member, 1945) - Breve biografia
- Mary Soames, née Spencer-Churchill, was born at her family's estate at Chartwell in Kent, the youngest of the five children of Sir Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine. Early in World War II, she volunteered for the Red Cross and the Women's Voluntary Service (1939 to 1941). In 1941, she joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of the British Army, and became an anti-aircraft gunner in London, rising in 1944 to command 230 other women volunteers. She also served as her father's aide-de-camp on several of his overseas missions, including his trip to the Potsdam Conference at the end of the war to meet with President Harry S. Truman and Russian leader Josef Stalin. In 1945, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition of her military services. In 1947, she married Conservative politician Christopher Soames (later Baron Soames, making her a Baroness), with whom she had five children. She wrote several books, including an acclaimed biography of her mother, published in 1979; a volume of edited letters between Sir Winston and Lady Churchill; and her memoirs, A Daughter's Tale (2012).
She also served as an invaluable source of information to other historians and biographers of her father.
Utenti
Recensioni
Mary Churchill was the youngest child born to Winston and Clementine Churchill. Using her married name, Mary Soames, she has written this most interesting story, often using her diaries for reference. The book covers her life as a young child, her education and eventually her war service, and also the lives of her parents and siblings, including covering the intensely busy years of her father's political career until he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and his influences on the years of World War Two. I recommend this story to those interested in this important period in our history.… (altro)
Mary Soames, born in 1922, is the only surviving child of Winston and Clementine Churchill. This memoir covers her early life and the war years, up to the defeat of Churchill's government in the 1945 election. Her father, normally shown as a gruff, serious statesman is portrayed here as a tender affectionate family man. Soames' interest in the times and the events that had such a profound effect on so many makes her point of view an interesting one. She is able to provide an intimate background to events that are familiar to history and the entire memoir is written from a very different perspective than the more formal accounts we usually see. As an gunner in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, she accompanied her father as his ADC on several overseas journeys, including the Quebec Conference with President Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, and the Potsdam Conference with Truman and Stalin. Although this is essentially Mary Churchill's story, it naturally involves the life and times of her parents, particularly her father. Much of the text is taken from Soames' diaries giving it a refreshingly youthful tone and a family intimacy that makes it all the more interesting. I really enjoyed this charming memoir and can recommend it highly to anyone interested in the subject.… (altro)
3 
VivienneR | 1 altra recensione | Mar 30, 2015 |
VivienneR | 1 altra recensione | Mar 30, 2015 | 
This book is the story of Clementine Churchill, wife of the legendary Winston Churchill written by their daughter.
If follows Clementine until she marries Churchill and then follows both of them as a dual biography and works in the the story of their children. It is an insightful look into the lives the Churchill's. Their legacy and impact on the 20th century was huge and understanding them and their times is worthwhile.
A couple random things that stood out to me, the suffragettes were surprisingly annoying with some of their outrageous behavior. Clementine had a rich suitor for four years that she accepted his friendship, a flower a day, his gifts, traveled with him. But never loved him. How sad for him. :(
Clementine, while close to her husband, and at times close to her children as they became adults, had few close relationships with anyone outside of Winston. How sad!
"Winston and his life filled Clementine's whole existence, and when she was well and in good form she neither desired nor needed other companions or distraction. But when she was low and fretted, and her "batteries needed recharging", it was often difficult to find a good solution. As her daughters grew up, she turned to each one and found company and companionship. But daughters soon have their own lives, careers, husbands, and children. Clementine's diffidence in personal relationships made her hesitate to propose herself to other people, because she was to shy and could not bring herself to to be a little more natural and carefree in her approach. Thus in a life full of people, she knew much loneliness."
This book is a biography of not merely the facts about these people, but it records their emotional relationship as found in their letters and through the eyes of their daughter. This subject was not really something that I caught/or saw growing up. My last serious relationship showed me how much I needed to learn in this area and seeing how Winston and Clementine found in each other such rest and assurance was educational.
While the author portrays her parents in a overall positive light she also notes their flaws as people and relationships. This is not hagiography.… (altro)
If follows Clementine until she marries Churchill and then follows both of them as a dual biography and works in the the story of their children. It is an insightful look into the lives the Churchill's. Their legacy and impact on the 20th century was huge and understanding them and their times is worthwhile.
A couple random things that stood out to me, the suffragettes were surprisingly annoying with some of their outrageous behavior. Clementine had a rich suitor for four years that she accepted his friendship, a flower a day, his gifts, traveled with him. But never loved him. How sad for him. :(
Clementine, while close to her husband, and at times close to her children as they became adults, had few close relationships with anyone outside of Winston. How sad!
"Winston and his life filled Clementine's whole existence, and when she was well and in good form she neither desired nor needed other companions or distraction. But when she was low and fretted, and her "batteries needed recharging", it was often difficult to find a good solution. As her daughters grew up, she turned to each one and found company and companionship. But daughters soon have their own lives, careers, husbands, and children. Clementine's diffidence in personal relationships made her hesitate to propose herself to other people, because she was to shy and could not bring herself to to be a little more natural and carefree in her approach. Thus in a life full of people, she knew much loneliness."
This book is a biography of not merely the facts about these people, but it records their emotional relationship as found in their letters and through the eyes of their daughter. This subject was not really something that I caught/or saw growing up. My last serious relationship showed me how much I needed to learn in this area and seeing how Winston and Clementine found in each other such rest and assurance was educational.
While the author portrays her parents in a overall positive light she also notes their flaws as people and relationships. This is not hagiography.… (altro)
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Statistiche
- Opere
- 7
- Opere correlate
- 1
- Utenti
- 748
- Popolarità
- #33,983
- Voto
- 4.0
- Recensioni
- 6
- ISBN
- 39
This book centers on the intense correspondence between husband and wife. My first thought was.... where on Earth did they keep all these letters for over 50 years of marriage. Also, Clementine might have been a very friendly, helpful person, but you still can not compare her with the "normal" women of her time, because most of them did not have the time or means to write their husbands multiple letters (and telegrams) each day. The Churchills were able to always have the help of nannies, secretaries, cooks, etc. to take care of all of these mundane daily chores. I was also surprised to read how often they went on trips (some in GB, but many overseas) and they thought nothing of leaving their children in the care of others for many weeks.… (altro)