Esmond Romilly
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Esmond Marcus David Romilly, (June 10, 1918–November 30, 1941), was a nephew of Winston Churchill. Educated at Wellington College, he was a journalist who wrote two autobiographies before he was 21 and attracted some media attention as Winston Churchill's 'red nephew'. He eloped with Jessica Mitford to Spain during the Civil War, where he worked as a reporter, along with his friend Philip Toynbee, who later wrote his memoirs. He and Toynbee collaborated on a journalistic account of the Spanish Civil War.
Later, he and Jessica settled in Miami and opened a bar. When Britain declared war on Germany at the beginning of World War II, he moved to Canada to volunteer. He served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was shot down over the North Sea during in 1941 after a bombing raid over Nazi Germany. He was 23.
He had two children with Jessica: Julia December 20, 1937, who died in a measles epidemic in May 1938; and Constancia (better known as 'Dinky') on February 9, 1941.
It was rumoured during his life that he was the result of an affair between his mother and Winston Churchill. The news of his death was broken to his wife Jessica Mitford by Churchill personally.
[edit] External links
- Mini-biography of Esmond Romilly
- Review of Kevin Ingram's 'Rebel: The short life of Esmond Romilly'
- Photographic portrait of Esmond and Giles Romilly, at the National Gallery
- Churchill's account of his death to Jessica Mitford
- Account of marriage through to death
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