Samantha Gwendoline Cameron
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Samantha Gwendoline Cameron (; born 18 April 1971) is an English businesswoman. Until 13 May 2010, she was the creative director of
Smythson Frank Smythson Limited, commonly known as Smythson (), is a British manufacturer and retailer of luxury stationery, leather goods, diaries, and fashion products based in London, England. The company's founder, Frank John Smythson, was born in 1 ...
of
Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...
. Her husband,
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
, was the British prime minister from 2010 to 2016. She took on a part-time consultancy role at Smythson after he became prime minister.


Early life

Samantha Cameron is the elder daughter of Sir Reginald Sheffield, 8th Baronet and Annabel Lucy Veronica Jones. Sir Reginald and Annabel married on 11 November 1969. The couple divorced in 1974, and Annabel later remarried to William Waldorf Astor III, nephew of her own stepfather Michael Langhorne Astor, with whom she had three more children. Her father also had three more children by his second wife Victoria Penelope Walker. Samantha Sheffield's birth was registered in Paddington, London. She grew up on the estate of Normanby Hall, north of Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire, though not in the Hall itself, the family having moved out in 1963, some eight years before her birth. Samantha Cameron is a great-granddaughter of Conservative Member of Parliament
Sir Berkeley Sheffield Sir Berkeley Digby George Sheffield, 6th Baronet, DL (19 January 1876 – 26 November 1946) was a British Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party. Background He was born in London, the son of Sir Robert Sheffield, 5th Baronet, of Norm ...
and, through him, is a distant cousin of model and actress Cara Delevingne. The father of Samantha's maternal grandmother, Patricia Clifford, was
Sir Bede Clifford Captain Sir Bede Edmund Hugh Clifford (3 July 1890 – 6 October 1969) was a British diplomat and colonial administrator, born in New Zealand, where his parents had moved in an unsuccessful attempt at sheep-farming. His parents were William Hug ...
, a descendant of King Charles II. Her great-grandparents also include the writer Enid Bagnold and her husband Sir Roderick Jones, head of Reuters. Through her great-great-great-grandfather Sir Robert Sheffield, 4th Baronet, she is a fourth cousin of Pamela Harriman, first wife of
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
's son Randolph Churchill. This Sheffield ancestor was an MP for the same constituency as
Thomas Corbett (Lincolnshire MP) Thomas George Corbett (1796 - 1868) was an English Member of Parliament, and High Sherriff of Lincolnshire in 1840. Background Thomas Corbett was the son of William Corbett (died 1832) of Darnhall and his wife Jane Eleanor, daughter of George A ...
, also an ancestor. Samantha Cameron's family also own a large Yorkshire estate called Sutton Park.


Education

Cameron initially went to
St Helen and St Katharine St Helen & St Katharine is an independent girls' day school, located in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. History St Helen's School, Abingdon was founded in 1903 by the Community of St Mary the Virgin (CSMV) to provide a Christian education for girls. ...
, though she sat
A-level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
s at
Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...
. She did an Art Foundation course at Camberwell College of Arts and went on to study Fine Art at the
School of Creative Arts A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...
, part of the University of the West of England.


Family

She and
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
married on 1 June 1996 at the Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury,
East Hendred East Hendred is a village and civil parish about east of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse and a similar distance west of Didcot. The village is on East Hendred Brook, which flows from the Berkshire Downs to join the River Thames at Sutton C ...
, England, five years before he was first elected as MP for Witney at the 2001 general election. The couple have had four children: Ivan Reginald Ian Cameron (8 April 2002, Hammersmith and Fulham, London – 25 February 2009, Paddington, London), Nancy Gwen Beatrice Cameron (born 19 January 2004, Westminster, London), Arthur Elwen Cameron (born 14 February 2006, Westminster) and Florence Rose Endellion Cameron (born 24 August 2010, Cornwall). Ivan was born with a rare combination of cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy and died at the age of six at
St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is an NHS hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, wh ...
. Florence Cameron's third given name, Endellion, is taken from the Cornish village of St Endellion; she was born early at the
Royal Cornwall Hospital The Royal Cornwall Hospital, formerly and still commonly known as the Treliske Hospital, is a medium-sized teaching hospital in Treliske, on the outskirts of Truro, Cornwall, England. The hospital provides training services for the University of ...
while the Camerons were on holiday in Cornwall.


Work and politics

Samantha Cameron served as Creative Director at British accessories brand
Smythson Frank Smythson Limited, commonly known as Smythson (), is a British manufacturer and retailer of luxury stationery, leather goods, diaries, and fashion products based in London, England. The company's founder, Frank John Smythson, was born in 1 ...
of
Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the l ...
, from 1997 until May 2010, winning a British
Glamour Magazine ''Glamour'' is today an online women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. For many years a traditional hard-copy magazine, it was founded in 1939 and first published in April 1939 in the United States. It was originally called '' ...
Award for Best Accessory Designer in 2009. She took on a part-time creative consultancy role at Smythson after her husband became Prime Minister. From 2011 to 2015 Cameron was on the judging panel for the Vogue Fashion Fund alongside Victoria Beckham, Alexandra Shulman, and
Lisa Armstrong Lisa Armstrong may refer to: * Lisa Armstrong (writer), British author * Lisa Armstrong (make-up artist) Lisa Marie Armstrong (born 25 October 1976) is a former member of pop band Deuce and was make-up expert for the ITV programme '' This Morn ...
. She served as an ambassador for the British Fashion Council playing a prominent role in London Fashion Week. In 2013, Cameron was named in '' Tatler's'' Top 10 Best Dressed List. In 2015, Cameron was named In '' Vanity Fair''s International Best-Dressed List. In 2017 Cameron founded Cefinn, a contemporary womenswear brand based in London that launched its first collection in February of that year. The name Cefinn (pronounced 'Seffin') is an acronym of her four children's names, Ivan, Nancy, Elwen, and Florence, between the first and last letters of Cameron.


Charitable causes

Cameron is active for several charitable causes, and in June 2013 she became a patron for Revitalise. Cameron has volunteered for Dress for Success, a nonprofit organisation that gives free clothes and advice about job interviews to unemployed women.Emma Barnett
Dress for Success: the charity quietly getting British women back into work
, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 18 October 2012
In October 2012, she held a benefit for them at Number 10. On 11 December 2015, it was announced Cameron, one of sixteen celebrities, to participate in the ''Great Sport Relief Bake Off'', which aired in 2016 as part of that year's Sport Relief fundraiser. Cameron is an ambassador for the charity Save the Children. In March 2013, after visiting Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Cameron said: "As a mother, it is horrifying to hear the harrowing stories from the children I met today, no child should ever experience what they have. With every day that passes, more children and parents are being killed, more innocent childhoods are being smashed to pieces."


Other issues

Cameron is credited with coining the phrase "There is such a thing as society; it's just not the same thing as the state" (seen as a rejoinder to Margaret Thatcher's famous comment there is "no such thing" as society), which has been said several times by David Cameron, including in his victory speech following his victory in the Conservative Party leadership election in 2005. The Camerons are members of the
Chipping Norton set The Chipping Norton set is a group of media, political and show-business acquaintances who have homes near the market town of Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, England. Chipping Norton is located approximately 75 miles from London. The group gain ...
.


References


External links


www.burkespeerage.com

Profile: Samantha Cameron
BBC News {{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Samantha English philanthropists Spouses of prime ministers of the United Kingdom 1971 births Living people English businesspeople in fashion 21st-century English businesswomen English Anglicans Samantha Cameron People from Paddington People educated at the School of St Helen and St Katharine People from Burton upon Stather Daughters of baronets