Henry Hozier

"Lloyhalp". Caricature by Jopling published in Vanity Fair in 1883 Colonel Sir Henry Montague Hozier, (20 March 1838 – 28 February 1907) was a British Army officer who became secretary of Lloyd's of London. He was the father-in-law of Sir Winston Churchill, who married his daughter Clementine, though her paternity is doubted.

Biography Hozier was born at Bothwell, Lanarkshire, the third surviving son of James Hozier of Newlands and Mauldslie Castle, and Catherine Margaret Feilden, daughter of Sir William Feilden. His elder brother William Hozier was created a baronet in 1890 and raised to the peerage as Baron Newlands in 1898.

Hozier was educated at Rugby School, Edinburgh Academy, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was successively lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, lieutenant in the 2nd Life Guards and captain in the 3rd Dragoon Guards, and passed first into and out of the Staff College, Camberley. He served with the Royal Artillery in the expedition to Peking, with the German Army in the War of 1866, as assistant military secretary to Sir Robert Napier in the Abyssinian expedition, and as assistant military attaché during the Franco-Prussian War. He was awarded the Iron Cross for his service in the latter conflict, made a Companion of the Bath in 1897, and a Knight Commander of the Bath in 1903.

Marriage In 1873, Hozier married Lady Blanche Ogilvy, daughter of David Ogilvy, 10th Earl of Airlie. Lady Blanche gave birth to four children, but their paternity has been questioned, due to Hozier's apparent sterility and poor relationship with his wife, who was known to have had affairs. Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, who was married to Blanche's sister Lady Clementine, is considered the most likely candidate to be their biological father.

Lady Blanche's four children while married to Hozier were: Nellie Margaret Ogilvy Hozier (2 April 1888 – 2 February 1955), twin of James, married to Bertram Romilly, mother of Giles Romilly (1916–1967) and Esmond Romilly (1918–1941)