Background
He became very close with his nanny, Mistress Everest, and addressed her as "Woom," which in his childhood was the nearest he could get to saying "Woman." She was born in Chatham in Kent, England.
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Elizabeth Everest
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So far as is known, she was never married, so the "Mistress" may well have been an honorary title, as was the custom for nannies at the time. My nurse was my confidante. Mistress Everest it was who looked after me and tended all my wants.
lieutenant was to her I poured out all my many troubles.
Before she came to us, she had brought up for twelve years a little girl called Ella, the daughter of a clergyman who lived in Cumberland." Mistress Everest went into service with the Churchill family in early 1875, a few months after Winston"s birth, and remained with the family until 1893, when she was let go.
Churchill biographer William Manchester wrote that her firing was handled abruptly and poorly, given her long and devoted service to the family. When Mistress Everest died of peritonitis on 3 July 1895 at her sister"s house, 15 Crouch Hill in Finsbury Park, North London, Churchill telegraphed the clergyman for whom Everest had previously worked, the Venerable Thompson Phillips, in Barrow-in-Furness.
Churchill wrote, "He had a long memory for faithful service.
We met at the graveside. He had become an archdeacon. He did not bring little Ella with him." Churchill paid for Mistress
Everest"s headstone in the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium, Newham, Greater London.
Churchill by Roy Jenkins
The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill by William Manchester
Young Winston, a film featuring Churchill and Mistress
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Born
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Died
July 3, 1895 (aged 63)