Margot Asquith
Encyclopedia
Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith (2 February 1864 – 28 July 1945), born Emma Alice Margaret Tennant, was an Anglo-Scottish socialite, author and wit. From 1894 until his death in 1928, she was married to Herbert Henry Asquith, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916.
, Tweeddale
, of Scottish
and English
descent. She was the sixth daughter and eleventh child of Charles Clow Tennant, industrialist and politician, and Emma Winsloe. She was brought up at Glen, the family's country estate, Margot and her sister Laura grew up wild and uninhibited. Margot was a "venturesome child", roaming the moors
, climbing to the top of the roof by moonlight, riding her horse up the front steps of the estate house. Riding and golf
were her life-long passions.
The two girls were inseparable, entering society
together in London
in 1881. She and Laura became the central female figures of an aristocratic
group of intellectuals called "The Souls
" ("You are always talking about your souls," complained Lord Charles Beresford
, thereby providing them with a suitable label). When Laura married Alfred Lyttelton
in 1885, the first part of Margot's life ended. Laura's death in 1888 was a devastating blow from which Margot never fully recovered. As a result, Margot developed chronic insomnia
which would plague her for the rest of her life.
. When Herbert Henry became Prime Minister
in 1908, of the first brood of Asquith children only Violet was still at home. It came as something of a relief to Margot when Violet married Maurice Bonham Carter
in 1915.
A huge house in Cavendish Square
in London with a staff of 14 servants was the Asquith home until they moved to 10 Downing Street
. The residence of most importance in the life of the Asquiths was The Wharf in Sutton Courtenay
, Oxfordshire
, built in 1912. This became their weekend home away from home. It is here that literary, artistic and political luminaries would gather.
Asquith bore five children, only two of whom survived infancy: Elizabeth
in 1897, who married Prince Antoine Bibesco
of Romania
in 1919 and became a writer of some note, and Anthony
in 1902, who became a film director.
During World War I
, Asquith's outspokenness led to a public outcry. For example, she visited a German prisoner of war
camp and she accused her shell-shocked
stepson Herbert of being drunk. The negative public and media response may well have contributed to the political downfall of her husband. In 1918 she was publicly attacked in court by Noel Pemberton Billing
, a right-wing MP who was convinced that the nation's war effort was being undermined by homosexuality in high society. He hinted that she was associated with the conspirators. Billing also published a poem written by Lord Alfred Douglas
which referred to Margot "bound with Lesbian fillets".
, a beautiful house formerly occupied by saloniere Ottoline Morrell, before residing in rooms at the Savoy Hotel
. Her final home was in Thurloe Place, Kensington
.
After her husband's death, she was left in near penury and, though she made some money as a writer of numerous autobiographies, her financial position caused her constant concern. Her final overwhelming sadness was the separation from her daughter, Elizabeth, who had been trapped in Bucharest
since 1940. Margot schemed for her rescue but Elizabeth died of pneumonia in April 1945; heart-broken, she outlived her daughter by only a few months.
Her writing style was not always critically accepted—the most famous review of Asquith's work came from New York
wit Dorothy Parker
, who wrote, "The affair between Margot Asquith and Margot Asquith will live as one of the prettiest love stories in all literature." Asquith was known for her outspokenness and acerbic wit. A possibly apocryphal but typical story has her meeting the American film actress Jean Harlow
and correcting Harlow's mispronunciation of her first name — "No, no; the 't' is silent, as in 'Harlow'." The story was recorded by the Liberal MP Robert Bernays
in his diary entry for June 26, 1934, but Bernays does not claim to have witnessed the alleged encounter himself.
Early life
Margot Tennant was born in PeeblesshirePeeblesshire
Peeblesshire , the County of Peebles or Tweeddale was a county of Scotland. Its main town was Peebles, and it bordered Midlothian to the north, Selkirkshire to the east, Dumfriesshire to the south, and Lanarkshire to the west.After the local government reorganisation of 1975 the use of the name...
, Tweeddale
Tweeddale
Tweeddale is a committee area and lieutenancy area in the Scottish Borders with a population of 17,394 at the latest census in 2001 it is the second smallest of the 5 committee areas in the Borders. It is the traditional name for the area drained by the upper reaches of the River Tweed...
, of Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
descent. She was the sixth daughter and eleventh child of Charles Clow Tennant, industrialist and politician, and Emma Winsloe. She was brought up at Glen, the family's country estate, Margot and her sister Laura grew up wild and uninhibited. Margot was a "venturesome child", roaming the moors
Moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...
, climbing to the top of the roof by moonlight, riding her horse up the front steps of the estate house. Riding and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
were her life-long passions.
The two girls were inseparable, entering society
Debutante
A débutante is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal "début" presentation. It should not be confused with a Debs...
together in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1881. She and Laura became the central female figures of an aristocratic
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
group of intellectuals called "The Souls
The Souls
The Souls were a small, loosely-knit but distinctive social group in England, from 1885 to about 1920. Their members included many of the most distinguished English politicians and intellectuals....
" ("You are always talking about your souls," complained Lord Charles Beresford
Lord Charles Beresford
Charles William de la Poer Beresford, 1st Baron Beresford GCB GCVO , styled Lord Charles Beresford between 1859 and 1916, was a British Admiral and Member of Parliament....
, thereby providing them with a suitable label). When Laura married Alfred Lyttelton
Alfred Lyttelton
Alfred Lyttelton QC was a British politician and sportsman who excelled at both football and cricket. During his time at university he participated in Varsity Matches in five sports: cricket , football , athletics , rackets and real tennis , displaying an ability that made him...
in 1885, the first part of Margot's life ended. Laura's death in 1888 was a devastating blow from which Margot never fully recovered. As a result, Margot developed chronic insomnia
Insomnia
Insomnia is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions:...
which would plague her for the rest of her life.
Mrs Asquith
On 10 May 1894, Margot married Herbert Henry Asquith and became a "spur to his ambition". She brought him into the glittering social world which he had in no way experienced with his first wife. She also became the unenthusiastic stepmother of five children who were bemused by this creature, so different from their quiet mother. "She flashed into our lives like some dazzling bird of paradise, filling us with amazement, amusement, excitement, sometimes with a vague uneasiness as to what she might do next," wrote Violet AsquithViolet Bonham Carter
Helen Violet Bonham Carter, Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury, DBE was a British politician and diarist. She was the daughter of H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister from 1908-1916, and later became active in Liberal politics herself, being a leading opponent of appeasement, standing for Parliament and being...
. When Herbert Henry became Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
in 1908, of the first brood of Asquith children only Violet was still at home. It came as something of a relief to Margot when Violet married Maurice Bonham Carter
Maurice Bonham Carter
Sir Maurice Bonham Carter, KCB, KCVO was an English Liberal politician and cricketer.Bonham Carter was the second son of Sibella Charlotte and Henry Bonham Carter. He was born in London and educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford...
in 1915.
A huge house in Cavendish Square
Cavendish Square
Cavendish Square is a public square in the West End of London, very close to Oxford Circus, where the two main shopping thoroughfares of Oxford Street and Regent Street meet. It is located at the eastern end of Wigmore Street, which connects it to Portman Square, part of the Portman Estate, to its...
in London with a staff of 14 servants was the Asquith home until they moved to 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
. The residence of most importance in the life of the Asquiths was The Wharf in Sutton Courtenay
Sutton Courtenay
Sutton Courtenay is a village and civil parish on the River Thames south of Abingdon and northwest of Didcot. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.-Today:...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, built in 1912. This became their weekend home away from home. It is here that literary, artistic and political luminaries would gather.
Asquith bore five children, only two of whom survived infancy: Elizabeth
Elizabeth Bibesco
Elizabeth, Princess Bibesco was an English writer active between 1921 and 1940. A final posthumous collection of her stories, poems and aphorisms was published under the title Haven in 1951, with a preface by Elizabeth Bowen.-Childhood and youth:Elizabeth Charlotte Lucy was the first child of...
in 1897, who married Prince Antoine Bibesco
Antoine Bibesco
Antoine, Prince Bibesco was a Romanian aristocrat, lawyer, diplomat and writer.- Biography :His father was Prince Alexandre Bibesco, the last surviving son of the Hospodar of Wallachia. His mother was Helene Epourano, daughter of a former Prime Minister of Romania...
of Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
in 1919 and became a writer of some note, and Anthony
Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith was a leading English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version , among other adaptations...
in 1902, who became a film director.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Asquith's outspokenness led to a public outcry. For example, she visited a German prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camp and she accused her shell-shocked
Shell Shock
Shell Shock, also known as 82nd Marines Attack was a 1964 film by B-movie director John Hayes. The film takes place in Italy during World War II, and tells the story of a sergeant with his group of soldiers....
stepson Herbert of being drunk. The negative public and media response may well have contributed to the political downfall of her husband. In 1918 she was publicly attacked in court by Noel Pemberton Billing
Noel Pemberton Billing
Noel Pemberton Billing was an English aviator, inventor, publisher, and Member of Parliament. He founded the firm that became Supermarine and promoted air power, but he held a strong antipathy towards the Royal Aircraft Factory and its products...
, a right-wing MP who was convinced that the nation's war effort was being undermined by homosexuality in high society. He hinted that she was associated with the conspirators. Billing also published a poem written by Lord Alfred Douglas
Lord Alfred Douglas
Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas , nicknamed Bosie, was a British author, poet and translator, better known as the intimate friend and lover of the writer Oscar Wilde...
which referred to Margot "bound with Lesbian fillets".
After the war
In 1920 the mansion in Cavendish Square was sold and after her husband's death in 1928, Asquith slowly moved down the residential rungs to 44 Bedford SquareBedford Square
Bedford Square is a square in the Bloomsbury district of the Borough of Camden in London, England.Built between 1775 and 1783 as an upper middle class residential area, the sqare has had many distinguished residents, including Lord Eldon, one of Britain's longest serving and most celebrated Lord...
, a beautiful house formerly occupied by saloniere Ottoline Morrell, before residing in rooms at the Savoy Hotel
Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
. Her final home was in Thurloe Place, Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
.
After her husband's death, she was left in near penury and, though she made some money as a writer of numerous autobiographies, her financial position caused her constant concern. Her final overwhelming sadness was the separation from her daughter, Elizabeth, who had been trapped in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
since 1940. Margot schemed for her rescue but Elizabeth died of pneumonia in April 1945; heart-broken, she outlived her daughter by only a few months.
Her writing style was not always critically accepted—the most famous review of Asquith's work came from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
wit Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
, who wrote, "The affair between Margot Asquith and Margot Asquith will live as one of the prettiest love stories in all literature." Asquith was known for her outspokenness and acerbic wit. A possibly apocryphal but typical story has her meeting the American film actress Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
and correcting Harlow's mispronunciation of her first name — "No, no; the 't' is silent, as in 'Harlow'." The story was recorded by the Liberal MP Robert Bernays
Robert Bernays
Robert Hamilton Bernays was a Liberal Party, and later Liberal National, politician in the United Kingdom who served as a Member of Parliament from 1931 to 1945....
in his diary entry for June 26, 1934, but Bernays does not claim to have witnessed the alleged encounter himself.
Publications
- An Autobiography - (Parts 1, 2 and 3) 1922
- My Impressions of America 1922
- Places & Persons 1925
- Lay Sermons 1927
- Octavia 1928
- More Memories 1933
- More or Less about Myself 1934
External links
- Full text of Margot Asquith, An Autobiography from Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
- Bodleian Library catalogue of Margot Asquith's private papers
- Bodleian Library catalogue of H.H. Asquith's private papers
- Bodleian Library catalogue of Lady Violet Bonham Carter's private papers