Winston Churchill

Born into a Victorian aristocratic family on 30th November 1874, Winston Churchill was the eldest son of MP Lord Randolph Churchill and American heiress Jennie Jerome. He graduated from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in 1894 and soon after travelled to Cuba to observe the Spanish Army in action about which he wrote vividly descriptive articles for the Daily Graphic. With the Fourth Hussars he set off for India and the northwest frontier and again produced descriptive reports for the Pioneer and Daily Telegraph. In 1898 he joined Kitchener’s Army in the Sudan with a commission to write articles for the Morning Post. With the 21st Lancers he took part in the famous cavalry charge at the battle of Omdurman after which he wrote his book “The River War”. Churchill made his first political speech in 1899 after returning to England, resigning his army commission in the same year and, as a Conservative, contested the by-election at Oldham where he was narrowly defeated.                                            

In October of 1899, as war correspondent for the Morning Post, he set sail for South Africa to report on the Boer war. His salary at the time was 250 pounds sterling, 50 pounds more than General Buller who commanded the Relief forces. Soon after his arrival and whilst in the company of the Governor and Sir Redvers Buller he expressed his views on how the campaign should be conducted. Buller’s reply was “don’t be such a young ass”. Churchill arrived in Estcourt on 6th November 1899. Nine days later was involved in the Armoured Train disater where he was captured and subsequently imprisoned in Pretoria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was here that he and Jan Smuts first met. It was the latter that agreed that the correspondent was no threat and he arranged for his release only to find that Churchill had escaped that same night. His audacious escape made headline news and he returned to Durban as a hero. An incident just prior to his capture warrants mention. Winston had struck a bargain with a young corporal in the Estcourt squadron of the Natal Carbineers who for a fee of 250 pounds agreed to guide him through the lines. This corporal was Park Gray, grandson of David Gray a foreman of a Paisley print works who emigrated in 1849. Churchill’s plan was vetoed by Gray’s Commanding Officer. Both he and the Boers evidently shared the same opinion of the future war leader which is aptly summed up in a comment by one of Churchill’s captors, a Frans Changuion. “Hy was sonder hoed, ongewapend en het die voorkoms van ‘n groot vet skoolseum gehad.” “He was without a hat, unarmed and had the appearance of a big fat schoolboy.”

On his return to Durban he relinquished his status as a newspaper correspondent. He was commissioned, as a Lieutenant, in the South Arfican Light Horse and saw action at the battles of Spioenkop and the breakthrough. On 28th February 1900 he was present at the Relief of Ladysmith. In June 1900 he once again visited Pretoria, this time with the victorious army.

He became a life long friend and colleague of Jan Smuts.

 

After the War he undertook a lecture tour in the United States and published “London to Ladysmith” and “Ian Hamilton’s March”. In the same year he again stood for election to Parliament as a Conservative and this time won by a majority of 180 votes. He disagreed however with Chamberlain’s tariff-reform policy and crossed the floor to join the Liberal party. In 1906 he became President of the Board of Trade under Asquith’s Liberal cabinet and later, as Home Secretary in 1910-11, he worked for special reform with David Lloyd George. As First Lord of the Admiralty, in 1911, he did much to modernise the navy.

Churchill’s role in World War One was controversial especially after the Gallipoli campaign which forced his resignation from the Admiralty. He served as a Battalion Commander in France then joined Lloyd George’s coalition government. He filled several important positions between 1917 and 1922 including Secretary for War and Minister of Munitions. Out of parliament between 1922 and 1924 due to the collapse of the Liberal Party in 1922 he found himself out of Parliament. He returned in 1924 as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Baldwin’s Conservative Government. He was also to be denied office between 1929 and 1939 due to numerous disagreements with the ruling party on India, rearmament and Chamberlain’s appeasement policy. In September 1939 his views were finally appreciated and he was returned to the Admiralty. In May 1940 he succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister to head an all-party administration. Successful collaboration with President Roosevelt of the USA secured much needed military and moral support and together, in 1941, they concluded the Atlantic Charter. Churchill’s conferences with Roosevelt and Stalin did much to shape the map of Post War Europe. In May 1945 the coalition Government was dissolved. Defeated in the general election in July 1945, he became leader of the opposition until the October 1951 election when he again became Prime Minister.

On 1st April 1953 he received the “Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter’, becoming Sir Winston. In October of the same year he received the Noble Prize for literature. In 1955, due to age and poor health, he resigned as Premier. He devoted his last years to writing and painting. Winston Churchill died on the 25th January 1965, aged 90. He is buried in Oxfordshire next to his Father, Mother and brother Jack, at Bladon churchyard, near Blenheim Palace.

See Churchill anecdotes