Mabel Harlakenden Hall Churchill (September 5, 1873 - May 27, 1945) was an American socialite and suffragist.
Mabel Harlakenden Hall was born in New Haven, Connecticut, to George and Lucretia Hall on September 5, 1873. [1] [2] She was part of a wealthy St. Louis family, and both her mother and grandmother were involved with the women's suffrage movement. [2] She attended Mary Institute in St. Louis. [1] Churchill served as treasurer for the Cornish Equal Suffrage League, formed in 1911. [3] She took part in a suffrage automobile tour in New Jersey, along with Antoinette Funk in 1915. [4] Churchill also worked as the treasurer for the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). [4] In 1915, she was one of three final candidates for president of NAWSA. [5]
On October 22, 1895, Mabel Harlakenden Hall married the author Winston Churchill. [6] Her fortune allowed her husband the ability to pursue his career as a novelist full time. [7] In 1899, the couple moved to a large, 30-plus room colonial home in Cornish, which they named "Harlakenden Hall" after Mabel. [8] [2] In May 1913 and June 1915, President Woodrow Wilson used Harlakenden Hall as a vacation home. [9] [10] In 1923, the house burned and the family moved to Plainfield, New Hampshire. [11] [2]
Churchill died in Plainfield on May 27, 1945. [12] [13] She was the model for Cleopatra in Maxfield Parrish's 1917 painting, Cleopatra. [14]