- Violet Attlee, Countess Attlee
Violet Helen Attlee, Countess Attlee ("née" Millar;
20 November 1895 –7 June 1964 ) was the wife of British Prime MinisterClement Attlee .Helen Millar was born in
Hampstead as the tenth child and youngest daughter of Henry Edward Millar, a prosperous businessman. Her early education took place in Hampstead before she went to Saint Felix, a boarding school inSouthwold . She worked as a VAD throughoutWorld War I , meeting her future husband shortly afterward. In the summer of 1921, she went with her mother toItaly ; joining them on the trip were her brother Cedric and a former Oxford friend, Clement Attlee. Within a few weeks of their return they became engaged and were married at Christ Church, Hampstead on10 January 1922 . Theirs would be a devoted marriage. Their four children were Janet Helen (b. 1923), Lady Felicity Ann (1925-2007), Martin Richard (1925-1991) and Lady Alison Elizabeth (b. 1930).A kind, unassuming woman who was not, by her own admission, "a political wife", Countess Attlee assisted in personal matters, for instance arranging annual
Boxing Day parties atChequers for the children of her husband's ministerial colleagues. She was constantly at Clement's side at party conferences, at innumerable gatherings overseas, and in the detailed chores of his political career, although she was in fact a lifelong Tory voter. She acted as his regular driver during postwar electionsIn August 1950, she joined
London 'sCivil Defence Corps . Since 1915 she had had considerable experience with the British Red Cross Society, having led a detachment for a number of years.Frequently in poor health, Attlee took ill suddenly and was admitted to Amersham Hospital on
7 June 1964 . Seven hours later, she died of acerebral haemorrhage . With her were her husband, son, second daughter, and the last's husband.horthand titles
* Miss Violet Millar (
20 November 1895 –10 January 1922 )
* Mrs Clement Attlee (10 January 1922 –16 December 1955 )
* Countess Attlee (16 December 1955 –7 June 1964 )References
* "Death Of Lady Attlee", "
The Times ",8 June 1964 ; pg. 10
* "Countess Attlee, A Devoted Wife and Companion", "The Times",9 June 1964 ; pg. 15
* " [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30498 Clement Attlee] " in the "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"
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