Winston Churchill Calls His Upcoming Wedding “This great occasion in my life.”

Churchill first met Clementine Hozier briefly in 1904 (when he was in love with actress Ethel Barrymore) but their next meeting at a dinner party on March 15, 1908 was life changing for both of them. He was then 33 and about to enter the Cabinet as President of the Board of Trade. She was 22 and the impoverished granddaughter of the Earl of Airlie. He had had paramours before, and she had a distinct penchant for older men and had already been engaged twice – firstly to a banker 15 years her senior then to a civil servant almost twice her age – and had broken it off both times. After this second encounter, Winston threw himself into a lightning courtship. His narrow escape from death in a house fire brought an anxious telegram from Clemmie, and Winston invited her to Blenheim. There on Tuesday August 11, 1908, they took shelter from the rain in an ornamental Greek temple during an afternoon walk. He proposed, using all of his formidable eloquence to persuade her to marry him, and she said yes. Her engagement ring – a large ruby with two diamonds – was one of the three Winston’s father had given his mother. The engagement was announced on August 15 and the wedding set for less than a month later on September 12.  

First though, Winston had to face Violet Asquith, the woman who was in love with him. She was on holiday with her family in Scotland and he ensured that she was told before the official announcement, but still felt that he should speak to her face to face. A furious Clemmie threatened to break off their engagement but Winston insisted. Exactly what he said to Violet is unclear but she was distraught when he left and refused to attend the wedding. As for Clemmie, Winston assured her: “I do not love and never will love any woman in the world but you.”

The marriage was a lasting and happy one. Clementine created the stable home environment that allowed Winston to be so active. They wrote warmly to one another whenever apart but also had fiery arguments. Clementine was the critic Winston heeded above all others. Their letters often end with drawings that illustrate their pet names. He was her “pug;” She was his “cat.” They had four children: Diana, Randolph, Sarah, and Mary. He died in 1965, and only then were they separated.

As Winston wrote, “I married and lived happily ever afterwards.”

At the turn of the 20th century, Nathan Laski was a cotton merchant, a Manchester magistrate, and a leader of the Liberal Party. He was also the most prominent Jewish leader in England. In 1904 he pledged his support for the bid of Churchill (then a Liberal) to become MP for North West Manchester. Churchill won the election, and Laski became a life-long friend. It was at one of Laski’s dinners that Churchill and Weizmann first met. Laski had a son Harold, a political theorist, economist, author, and lecturer, who became active in politics and would serve as the Chairman of the Labour Party for a time while Churchill was Prime Minister. Laski also had a daughter Mabel who was disabled, and according to the British census records, was 13 years old in 1908.

Autograph letter signed, on his Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens letterhead, London, August 29, 1908, to Mabel Laski, in response to her best wishes on his upcoming wedding. “It is very kind of you indeed to wish to send me a token of your friendship on this great occasion in my life. I will accept the carpet with pleasure, and I am sure it will be most useful as well as beautiful in my home.“ She may well have been the youngest recipient of a handwritten letter from Churchill on this occasion.

An extremely uncommon mention of Churchill of his wedding.