"It was the nation and race dwelling all around the globe that had the lion’s heart. I had the luck to be called upon to give the roar"
– Winston Churchill.
The man with a lion heart and a never say die attitude, Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born atBlenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on November 30, 1874. His father was Lord Randolph Churchill, the second surviving son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough. Randolph Churchill’s mother was Frances, daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. Winston’s mother, Jeannie Jerome was the second of the four daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Jerome. The Jerome family lived in New York. The young couple wanted their child’s birth to take place at their New London house i.e. 48 Charles Street Mayfair, but destiny interfered with the couple’s plans. The child was born two months premature.
Winston’s mother Lady Randolph, was 20 at the time of his birth. She had exceptional beauty. She first encountered Lord Randolph at the reception and dance at Comes, in August 1873. It seemed to be love at first sight for both of them. Both were hot blooded and impetuous. Lord Randolph intended to marry Jeannie. Many people tried to dissuade him from marrying her but their attempts were futile. Finally, on April 15, 1874, Lord Randolph and Jeannie Jerome were married at the British Embassy in Paris. Reverend Dr. Edward Forbes presided over the marriage ceremony in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Jerome, the Marquess of Blandford (Lord Randolph’s elder brother) and Mr. Frances Knollys, private secretary to the Prince of Wales.
The Duke’s chaplain, the Reverend Henry William Yule, baptized Winston Churchill in the chapel of Blenheim.
When Winston Churchill was born his father was 25. Lord Randolph had been the Conservative member of the family sect of Woodstock for nine months.
In the general elections of 1880 Lord Randolph successfully held the family seat Woodstock by 60 votes though his majority was considerably reduced by 105.
Winston’s school days were the only unhappy part of his life. Due to his quarrelsome and rebellious nature, he could never adopt himself to life of discipline. His parents behavior displayed neglect and lack of interest towards him. From his letters written to his mother, it is quite obvious that he yearned for visits if not from her then at least from Mrs. Everes, who was his nanny for many years and his brother Jack. Lord Randolph was a busy politician, while Lady Randolph was always occupied with the trends of the fashion society. His younger brother Jack was a not so unsuccessful press correspondent. As a result, Churchill felt exceptionally lonely and abandoned.
His schooling began four weeks before his 8th birthday. Winston joined St. George’s School on November 3, 1882. His overall performance at St. George’s was miserable as far as academic accomplishments and discipline were concerned. So at the end of the summer term of 1884, he was sent to Brighton, at 29 and 30 Brunswick Road. There, Winston was under the control of two elderly spinsters. Compared to St. George’s, Winston was much happier at Brighton.
Lord and Lady Randolph were not satisfied with Brighton, so during the summer of 1887, Lord Randolph sought the advice of his sister’s husband – Edward Majorbanks regarding a suitable public school for Winston.
Majorbanks had admitted his son to Harrow and suggested the same for Winston. Winston joined Harrow on April 17, 1888. After completing his school education in the third attempt, he was successful in securing admission to Sandhurst and was trained as an infantry officer.
One of the chief traits of his personality was that any form of adventure enraptured him. He wanted to sail to India and be stationed there for a period of eight to nine years, but doubted if there would be much of an opportunity in India. With these mixed feelings, Churchill finally set sail to India. The ship was harbored at Bombay. From Bombay Churchill traveled to Bangalore by train. Bangalore was a military cantonment during the Madras Presidency. Despite the unsuitable climate, Churchill was able to live quite comfortably and with some degree of elegance. Churchill met the first great love of his life, Miss Pamela Plomden who was seven months elder to him there. At Bangalore, Churchill felt quite low, as his career prospects did not improve while others were successful.
His first few months in India were marked by minor injuries and a dislocated shoulder. In England, his mother had to deal with a financial fraud in London. The fraud took place due to James Henry Irving Cruishank who had duped Lady Randolph and some of her friends of over £ 4,000. Churchill insisted his mother to prosecute Cruishank. Lady Randolph followed his advice and a year later on November 25, 1897, Cruishank pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court.
Before Churchill left for India, the family was already facing financial problems. His father Lord Randolph had died on January 24, 1895, and there were still more challanges for the family to face.
Taking into consideration his career and the financial affairs of his family, Churchill decided to sail back to England. He was briefly involved with politics and returned to India and worked as a journalist for the Daily Telegraph. While in India, Churchill decided to complete his book The River War. He faced many hurdles in writing the book. Churchill relied on Major Watson for some information to write the book, however Watson was forbidden by the Sirdar (Commander) to supply Churchill with any further information. As a result, Churchill had to go to Cairo. After finishing his research at Cairo, Churchill returned to London.
On September 18, Alfred Harmsworth, proprietor of the Daily Mail telegraphed Churchill, asking him to work as a war correspondent for the paper. Churchill accepted the proposal and sailed from Southampton in the Dunottar Castle on October 14 (1899).
But unfortunately, he was captured by the Boers and held as a prisoner in Pretoria. Within a month, he escaped from prison along with other prisoners. After his escape he sailed in the Indiana, which reached Durban on December 23. On his arrival at Durban, he found that he had become famous overnight because he had escaped from the high security prison of the Boers. The same day, Churchill went to Pietermaritzburg by train. There at night, he stayed as the guest of the Governor of Natal, Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson. The next morning, he set out for the Headquarters of Sir Redner Buller at Chievely.
On July 20, 1900 Churchill reached Southampton. On the voyage on Dunottar Castle, he occupied himself in completing Ian Hamilton’s March. When he reached Southampton, his mother had not come to greet him. She was first on the verge of marrying Captain George Cornwallis-West. He was 16 days older to Churchill and 20 years younger to Lady Randolph and was the most handsome man of his time. The unsuitable marriage lasted on and off for 13 years until Cornwallis-West left her and married Mrs. Patrick Campbell.
Keeping in mind the general election, Churchill harbored no intention to stand for the election except for Oldham, where he had been dejected at the by-election results. Winston Churchill contested for the elections as the British Conservative candidate. At once, he started the necessary preparations for his maiden entry to parliament. Churchill found that he was in great demand as a speaker. As a result, he limited his engagements to helping personal friends only. The parliament was formally dissolved on September 17, 1908 and two days later Churchill began his election campaign at Oldham. The campaign was shorter than Churchill had anticipated. Churchill and Crisp represented the Conservative Party. Mr. Emmott a senior Radical member; Mr. Runciman, a Liberalist Imperialist, were all in the fray. When the votes for the two-member constituency were counted it was found that the liberals had maintained their majority in Oldham. Churchill lost to Emmott by a narrow margin of 16 votes. Emmott had secured 12,947 votes while Churchill had secured 12,931 votes.
Shortly before midnight the results were declared. All the morning papers of October 2, announced the results. The Times reported that Churchill had been defeated. The next day it made amends for its mistake with an apology and a leading article that welcomed Churchill in the parliament.
A steady income became a matter of great urgency in 1908 when he began a long and happy marriage to Clementine Hozier. Churchill and Clementine had a son and four daughters, one of whom died in infancy.
The lifestyle, which he was able to provide for her and his growing family, was always comfortable, though not lavish by aristocratic standards. He was on a political journey, which was certainly a steep road, still in the next few decades, with remarkable patience, he made to the highest peak- the Prime Minister of England.
In politics his career saw ups and downs. In the years that followed Churchill was involved in active politics, though he often faced opposition.But luck favored him only after participation into active politics in 1940 when he finally became the Prime Minister on May 10, 1940. After becoming the Prime Minister at a time when the world was at the start of the second world war, Churchill had to walk on the edge of sword, facing problems, people and politicians from all over the world.
After becoming the Prime Minister, the early 1940 were marked with
meetings of Churchill with important personalities like Stalin and Roosevelt.
After a term of 5 years Churchill resigned in 1945.
By 1951 the man was back in the office of the Prime Minister. In 1953 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and the same year received the Nobel Peace Prize. By 1955, Churchill resigned again.
With the onset of old age, Churchill’s health started sagging.His only source of joy were animals in his last days.In 1965 at the age of 90 the man passed away. Churchill’s funeral was marked by solemn pageantry appropriate for a man who was a product of an imperial age. On a grey London day, on January 30, amid muffled drums and slow marching troops, the gun carriage with Churchill’s flag-draped coffin on it was borne out of view from the many thousands who had come to pay their final respects. His youngest daughter Mary Soames described him movingly in his twilight years : "Remembering him thus", she has written, I recall Landor’s lines : "I warmed both hands before the fire of life, it sinks and I am ready to depart."
Churchill’s life was driven by a deep belief in his destiny and an essentially Anglo-centric race-patriotism which now inevitably has its critics in a multi-cultural Britain confronting important constitutional changes as well as closer relations with the European Union.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
A man is known by the way in which he shoulders his joys, sorrows, aspirations, dreams, struggles, successes, failures, fortunes and flaws. One man who is well known in history for shouldering the responsibility of an entire nation despite all its ups and downs is none other than Sir Winston Spencer Churchill. His political career can be compared to a roller coaster : exciting and always making a new move or taking a new turn. His life spanned a period in which the British Empire reached its zenith and yet also went into terminal decline. He was the child of a high imperial age and this helped shape his political career.
Churchill identified himself with Britain and always believed that Britain would have a great destiny. However, many portray Churchill as a reactionary on many issues. He was a politician, in several ways flawed, yet also, a larger than life figure with a generosity of spirit and leadership qualities which made him indispensable to Britain in its greatest hour of crisis.
• 1874
Winston Spencer Churchill was born on November 30, at the Blenheim Palace,
Oxfordshire to Jeanette Jerome and Lord Randolph Churchill.
• 1893
Winston Churchill succeeds in the entrance examination in the third attempt and joins the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.
• 1895
Churchill was commissioned as an officer in the Fourth Hussars.
• 1896-99
Winston Churchill saw action on the northwest Frontier of India and in Sudan.
• 1899
Winston Churchill served as a War Correspondent in South Africa for The Morning Post.
He was captured by the forces, but later he escaped from a Boer prison camp.
• October 1900
Churchill was elected as the Conservative MP for Oldham.
• May 1904
Churchill joined the Liberal Party.
•December 1905
Winston was appointed the Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Colonies.
• 1908
Churchill was elected as the President of the Board of Trade.
He was defeated in the Manchester Northwest by-election He was elected as liberal MP for Dundee.
• April 1908
Churchill married Clementine Hozier.
• February 1910
Was appointed Home Secretary.
• October 1911
Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty.
• May 1915
The Dardanelles Navy was attacked and due to this Churchill was transferred from Admiralty,
to Chancellorship of Duchy of Lanchashire.
• November 1915
Churchill resigned and joined the army on the Western Front.
• July 1917
Churchill was appointed as the Minister of Munitions.
• January 1919
Churchill was appointed the Secretary of State.
• 1921
Churchill was appointed the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
• December 1923
He fails to be elected as Liberal in West Leicester.
• March 1924
Churchill failed to win Abbey Division of Westminster as Independent Anti- socialist.
• October 1924
He was elected for Epping as Constitutionalist, with the help of Conservative support.
• 1924
He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.
• April 1925
Churchill returned Britain to the Gold Standard.
• May 1926
The General strike took place.
• May 1929
The Conservative government led by Baldwin was defeated in the general elections.
• 1930
Churchill publishes his autobiography My Early Life.
Churchill resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in India.
• 1933
The autobiography of Marlborough : His Life and Times was published.
• 1935
Churchill joined the Air Defense Research Committee.
• December 1936
He supported King Edward VIII in the Abdication Crisis.
• 1937-38
He became more open in criticism of the policy of appeasement.
• September 1939
Churchill was appointed the First Lord of the Admiralty.
• May 10, 1940
Churchill was appointed as Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence.
• May 8, 1945
Europe won the war as Germany had surrendered unconditionally.
• May 23, 1945
The caretaker government was formed in Britain.
• July 26, 1945
Churchill resigned as the Prime Minister but remained MP for Woodford.
• March 1946
Churchill delivered the ‘iron curtain’ speech at Fulton, Missouri.
• 1948
The first six volumes of The Gathering Storm, book penned by Churchill was published.
• February 1950
The Labor won the general elections.
• 1951
The Conservatives won the general elections.
• October 1951
Churchill was appointed as the Prime Minister and later as Minister of Defence.
• October 1953
Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
• April 5, 1955
Churchill resigned as Prime Minister.
• 1956
The first volume of A History of the English-speaking Peoples,
a book written by Winston Churchill was published.
• July 1964
Churchill retired from the House of Commons.
• January 24, 1965
Churchill died in London.
• January 30, 1965
He was buried in Blandon Churchyard, near Blenheim, Oxfordshire.
• The price of greatness is responsibility.
• Solitary trees, if they grow at all, grow strong.
• The power of man has grown in every sphere, except over himself.
• The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.
• To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.
• It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.
• Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
• We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
• Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valor, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar.
• I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government : I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.
• We are still masters of our fate. We are still captain of our souls.
• Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say, this was their finest hour."
– This is an extract from the speech of Winston Spencer Churchill on June 18, 1940. This speech was made to the House of Commons following the collapse of France. Many anticipated the same fate for Britain. But knowing that, "Hitler will have to break us in this island or lose the war." – Churchill challenged the British people to put in uncommon efforts to win the Battle for Britain.
• Never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
• This is a war of the unknown warriors, but let all strive without failing in faith or in duty, and the dark curse of Hitler will be lifted from our age.
