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In office
 26 October 1951 – 7 April 1955

Monarch

George VI
Elizabeth II
 

Deputy
Anthony Eden

Preceded by
Clement Attlee

Succeeded by
Anthony Eden
In office
 10 May 1940 – 26 July 1945

Monarch
George VI

Deputy
Clement Attlee

Preceded by
Neville Chamberlain

Succeeded by
Clement Attlee

Personal details

Born
Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill
30 November 1874
Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England

Died
24 January 1965 (aged 90)
Kensington, London, England

Cause of death
Stroke

Resting place
St Martin's Church, Bladon

Political party
Conservative
(Before 1904; 1924–1964)

Liberal
(1904–1924)

Spouse(s)
Clementine Hozier (m. 1908)

Children

Diana Churchill
Randolph Churchill
Sarah Churchill
Marigold Churchill
Mary Soames
 

Parents

Lord Randolph Churchill
Jennie Jerome
 

Education

Harrow School
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
 

Military service

Allegiance
 United Kingdom

Service/branch

British Army
Territorial Army
 

Years of service

1895–1900
1900–1924
 

Rank
Commands
6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers

Battles/wars

Mahdist War
Second Boer War
First World War
 
Churchill was born at his parental home, Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, on 30 November 1874,[5][6] at which time the United Kingdom was the dominant world power.[7] A direct descendant of the Dukes of Marlborough, his family were among the highest levels of the British aristocracy,[8] and thus he was born into the country's governing elite.[9] His paternal grandfather, John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, had been a Member of Parliament (MP) for ten years, a member of the Conservative Party who served in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.[10] His own father, Lord Randolph Churchill, had been elected Conservative MP for Woodstock in 1873.[11] His mother, Jennie Churchill (née Jerome), was from an American family whose substantial wealth derived from finance.[12] The couple had met in August 1873, and were engaged three days later, marrying at the British Embassy in Paris in April 1874.[13] The couple lived beyond their income and were frequently in debt;[14] according to the biographer Sebastian Haffner, the family were "rich by normal standards but poor by those of the rich

First World War

I cannot feel that we in this island [i.e. Britain] are in any serious degree responsible for the wave of madness which has swept the mind of Christendom. No one can measure the consequences. I wondered whether those stupid Kings and Emperors could not assemble together and revivify kingship by saving the nations from hell but we all drift on in a kind of dull cataleptic trance. As if it was somebody else's operations.

Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914, there was growing talk of war in Europe.[235] Churchill began readying the navy for conflict,[236] convinced that if Germany attacked France then Britain would inevitably join the war.[237] Although there was strong opposition to involvement in the conflict within the Liberal Party,[237] the British Cabinet agreed that a German invasion of Belgium would be a cause for war. When this happened, Britain declared war.[238] Churchill was tasked with overseeing the country's naval warfare effort.[239] In two weeks, the navy transported 120,000 British troops across the English Channel to France.[239] In August, he oversaw a naval blockade of German North Sea ports to prevent them from transporting food by sea;[240] he also sent submarines to the Baltic Sea to assist the Russian Navy against German warships.[240] Also in August, he sent the Marine Brigade to Ostend to force the Germans to reallocate some of their troops away from their main southward thrust.[241]

In September, Churchill took over full responsibility for the aerial defence of Britain,[241] and made several visits to France to oversee the war effort.[242] While in Britain, he spoke at all-party recruiting rallies in London and Liverpool,[243] and his wife gave birth to their third child, Sarah.[244] In October he visited Antwerp to observe Belgian defences against the besieging Germans; he promised Belgian Prime Minister Charles de Broqueville that Britain would provide reinforcements for the city.[245] The German assault continued, and shortly after Churchill left the city he agreed to a British retreat, allowing the Germans to take Antwerp; many in the press criticised Churchill for this.[246] Churchill maintained that his actions prolonged the resistance by a week (Belgium had proposed surrendering Antwerp on 3 October) and that this time had enabled the Allies to secure Calais and Dunkirk.[247]

In November, Asquith called a War Council, consisting of himself, Lloyd George, Edward Grey, Kitchener, and Churchill.[248] Churchill proposed a plan to seize the island of Borkum and use it as a post from which to attack Germany's northern coastline, believing that this strategy should shorten the war.[249][verification needed] Churchill also encouraged the development of the tank, which he believed would be useful in overcoming the problems of trench warfare, and funded its creation with admiralty funds.[250] To relieve Turkish pressure on the Russians in the Caucasus, Churchill was part of a plan to distract the Turkish Army by attacking in the Dardanelles, with the hope that if successful the British could seize Constantinople.[251] In March, a fleet of 13 battleships attacked in the Dardanelles but faced severe problems from submerged mines; in April, the 29th Division began its assault at Gallipoli.[252] Many MPs, particularly Conservatives, blamed Churchill for the failure of these campaigns.[253] Amid growing Conservative pressure, in May, Asquith agreed to form an all-party coalition government; the Conservatives' one condition of entry was that Churchill be demoted from his position at the Admiralty.[254][255] Churchill plead his case with both Asquith and Conservative leader Bonar Law, but ultimately accepted his demotion to the position of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.[256]

On the Western Front: 1915–1916

 Winston Churchill commanding the 6th Battalion, the Royal Scots Fusiliers, 1916. Archibald Sinclair sits to the left
For several months Churchill served in the sinecure of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. However, on 15 November 1915 he resigned from the government, feeling his energies were not being used.[257]

Although remaining a member of parliament, Churchill returned to the British Army, attempting to obtain an appointment as brigade commander, but settling for command of a battalion. After some time gaining front-line experience as a Major with the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards, he was appointed temporary Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding the 6th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers (part of the 9th (Scottish) Division), on 1 January 1916.[258][259]

Correspondence with his wife shows that his intent in taking up active service was to rehabilitate his reputation, but this was balanced by the serious risk of being killed. During his period of command, his battalion was stationed at Ploegsteert but did not take part in any set battle. Although he disapproved strongly of the mass slaughter involved in many Western Front actions, he exposed himself to danger by making excursions to the front line and personally made 36 forays into no man's land

Churchill later sought to portray himself as an isolated voice warning of the need to rearm against Germany. While it is true that he had a small following in the House of Commons during much of the 1930s, he was given privileged information by some elements within the government, particularly by disaffected civil servants in the War Ministry and Foreign Office. The "Churchill group" in the latter half of the decade consisted of only himself, Duncan Sandys and Brendan Bracken. It was isolated from the other main factions within the Conservative Party in pressing for faster rearmament and a stronger foreign policy;[338][339] one meeting of anti-Chamberlain forces decided that Churchill would make a good Minister of Supply.[340]

Even during the time Churchill was campaigning against Indian independence, he received official and otherwise secret information. From 1932, Churchill's neighbour, Major Desmond Morton, with Ramsay MacDonald's approval, gave Churchill information on German air power.[341] From 1930 onward Morton headed a department of the Committee of Imperial Defence charged with researching the defence preparedness of other nations. Lord Swinton, as Secretary of State for Air, and with Baldwin's approval, in 1934 gave Churchill access to official and otherwise secret information.

Swinton did so, knowing Churchill would remain a critic of the government, but believing that an informed critic was better than one relying on rumour and hearsay.[342] Churchill was a fierce critic of Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Adolf Hitler[343] and in private letters to Lloyd George (13 August) and Lord Moyne (11 September) just before the Munich Agreement, he wrote that the government was faced with a choice between "war and shame" and that having chosen shame would later get war on less favourable terms.[344][345][346]

Return to the Admiralty

On 3 September 1939, the day Britain declared war on Germany following the outbreak of the Second World War, Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, the same position he had held during the first part of the First World War. As such he was a member of Chamberlain's small War Cabinet.[347][348][349]

In this position, he proved to be one of the highest-profile ministers during the so-called "Phoney War", when the only noticeable action was at sea and the USSR's attack on Finland. Churchill planned to penetrate the Baltic with a naval force. This was soon changed to a plan involving the mining of Norwegian waters to stop iron ore shipments from Narvik and provoke Germany into attacking Norway, where it could be defeated by the Royal Navy.[350] However, Chamberlain and the rest of the War Cabinet disagreed, and the start of the mining plan, Operation Wilfred, was delayed until 8 April 1940, a day before the successful German invasion of Norway

"We shall never surrender"
 Churchill wears a helmet during an air raid warning in the Battle of Britain in 1940
On 10 May 1940, hours before the German invasion of France by a lightning advance through the Low Countries, it became clear that, following failure in Norway, the country had no confidence in Chamberlain's prosecution of the war and so Chamberlain resigned. The commonly accepted version of events states that Lord Halifax turned down the post of prime minister because he believed he could not govern effectively as a member of the House of Lords instead of the House of Commons. Although a prime minister does not traditionally advise the King on a prime minister's own successor, Chamberlain wanted someone who would command the support of all three major parties in the House of Commons. A meeting between Chamberlain, Halifax, Churchill, and David Margesson, the government Chief Whip, led to the recommendation of Churchill, and, as constitutional monarch, George VI asked Churchill to be prime minister. Churchill's first act was to write to Chamberlain to thank him for his support.[352]

 Churchill takes aim with a Sten submachine gun in June 1941. The man in the pin-striped suit and fedora to the right is his bodyguard, Walter H. Thompson.
Churchill was still unpopular with many Conservatives and the Establishment,[339][353] who opposed his replacing Chamberlain; the former prime minister remained party leader until dying in November.[354] Churchill probably could not have won a majority in any of the political parties in the House of Commons, and the House of Lords was completely silent when it learned of his appointment.[339] Ralph Ingersoll reported in late 1940 that, "Everywhere I went in London people admired [Churchill's] energy, his courage, his singleness of purpose. People said they didn't know what Britain would do without him. He was obviously respected. But no one felt he would be Prime Minister after the war. He was simply the right man in the right job at the right time. The time being the time of a desperate war with Britain's enemies."[355]

An element of British public and political sentiment favoured a negotiated peace with Germany, among them Halifax as Foreign Secretary. Over three days in May (26–28 May 1940), there were repeated discussions within the War Cabinet of whether the UK should associate itself with French approaches to Mussolini to use his good offices with Hitler to seek a negotiated peace: they terminated in refusal to do so. Various interpretations are possible of this episode, and of Churchill's argument that "it was idle to think that, if we tried to make peace now, we should get better terms than if we fought it out", but throughout Churchill seems to have opposed any immediate peace negotiations.[356] Although at times personally pessimistic about Britain's chances for victory (Churchill told Hastings Ismay on 12 June 1940 that "[y]ou and I will be dead in three months' time"[354]) his use of rhetoric hardened public opinion against a peaceful resolution and prepared the British for a long war.[357]

Coining the general term for the upcoming battle, Churchill stated in his "finest hour" speech to the House of Commons on 18 June, "I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin."[358] By refusing an armistice with Germany, Churchill kept resistance alive in the British Empire and created the basis for the later Allied counter-attacks of 1942–45, with Britain serving as a platform for the supply of the Soviet Union and the liberation of Western Europe.[citation needed]

In response to previous criticisms that there had been no clear single minister in charge of the prosecution of the war, Churchill created and took the additional position of Minister of Defence, making him the most powerful wartime prime minister in British history.[339] He immediately put his friend and confidant, industrialist and newspaper baron Lord Beaverbrook, in charge of aircraft production and made his friend Frederick Lindemann the government's scientific advisor. It has been argued that it was Beaverbrook's business acumen that allowed Britain to quickly gear up aircraft production and engineering, which eventually made the difference in the war.[359]

  Churchill walks through the ruins of Coventry Cathedral with Alfred Robert Grindlay, 1941
Churchill's speeches were a great inspiration to the embattled British. His first as prime minister was the famous "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech. One historian has called its effect on Parliament "electrifying". The House of Commons that had ignored him during the 1930s "was now listening, and cheering".[340] Churchill followed that closely with two other equally famous ones, given just before the Battle of Britain. One included the words:

... we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, 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.[360]

The other:

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'.[361]

At the height of the Battle of Britain, his bracing survey of the situation included the memorable line "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few", which engendered the enduring nickname The Few for the RAF fighter pilots who won it.[362] He first spoke these famous words upon his exit from No. 11 Group's underground bunker at RAF Uxbridge, now known as the Battle of Britain Bunker on 16 August 1940. One of his most memorable war speeches came on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor's Luncheon at Mansion House in London, in response to the Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein. Churchill stated:

Without having much in the way of sustenance or good news to offer the British people, he took a risk in deliberately choosing to emphasise the dangers instead. "Rhetorical power", wrote Churchill, "is neither wholly bestowed, nor wholly acquired, but cultivated." Not all were impressed by his oratory. Robert Menzies, Australian Prime Minister, said of Churchill during the Second World War: "His real tyrant is the glittering phrase so attractive to his mind that awkward facts have to give way."[364] Another associate wrote: "He is ... the slave of the words which his mind forms about ideas ... And he can convince himself of almost every truth if it is once allowed thus to start on its wild career through his rhetorical machinery

In June 1944, the Allied Forces invaded Normandy and pushed the Nazi forces back into Germany on a broad front over the coming year. After being attacked on three fronts by the Allies, and in spite of Allied failures, such as Operation Market Garden, and German counter-attacks, including the Battle of the Bulge, Germany was eventually defeated. On 7 May 1945 at the SHAEF headquarters in Rheims the Allies accepted Germany's surrender. On the same day in a BBC news flash John Snagge announced that 8 May would be Victory in Europe Day.[425] On Victory in Europe Day, Churchill broadcast to the nation that Germany had surrendered and that a final ceasefire on all fronts in Europe would come into effect at one minute past midnight that night.[426][427]

Afterward, Churchill told a huge crowd in Whitehall: "This is your victory." The people shouted: "No, it is yours", and Churchill then conducted them in the singing of "Land of Hope and Glory". In the evening he made another broadcast to the nation asserting the defeat of Japan in the coming months.[428] The Japanese surrendered on 15 August 1945. As Europe celebrated peace at the end of six years of war, Churchill was concerned with the possibility that the celebrations would soon be brutally interrupted.[clarification needed][429] He concluded the UK and the US must anticipate the Red Army ignoring previously agreed frontiers and agreements in Europe, and prepare to "impose upon Russia the will of the United States and the British Empire."[429] According to the Operation Unthinkable plan ordered by Churchill and developed by the British Armed Forces, the Third World War could have started on 1 July 1945 with a sudden attack against the allied Soviet troops. The plan was rejected by the British Chiefs of Staff Committee as militarily unfeasible

Elizabeth II offered to create Churchill Duke of London, but this was declined as a result of the objections of his son Randolph, who would have inherited the title on his father's death.[491] He did, however, accept a knighthood as Garter Knight. After leaving the premiership, Churchill spent less time in parliament until he stood down at the 1964 general election. Churchill spent most of his retirement at Chartwell and at his home in Hyde Park Gate, in London, and became a habitué of high society on the French Riviera.[428][492]

Although publicly supportive, Churchill was privately scathing about Eden's Suez Invasion. His wife believed that he had made a number of visits to the US in the following years in an attempt to help repair Anglo-American relations.[493]

By the time of the 1959 general election Churchill seldom attended the House of Commons. Despite the Conservative landslide, his own majority fell by more than a thousand. It is widely believed that as his mental and physical faculties decayed, he began to lose a battle he had supposedly long fought against depression. However, the nature, incidence and severity of Churchill's depression is uncertain. Anthony Montague Browne, Personal Secretary to Churchill during the latter's final ten years of life, wrote that he never heard Churchill refer to depression, and he disputed that the former prime minister suffered from depression.[494]

There was speculation that Churchill may have had Alzheimer's disease in his last years, although others maintain that his reduced mental capacity was simply the cumulative result of the ten strokes and the increasing deafness he suffered from during the period 1949–1963.[495] In 1963, US President John F. Kennedy, acting under authorisation granted by an Act of Congress, proclaimed him an Honorary Citizen of the United States,[496] but he was unable to attend the White House ceremony.[497]

Despite poor health, Churchill still tried to remain active in public life, and on St George's Day 1964, sent a message of congratulations to the surviving veterans of the 1918 Zeebrugge Raid who were attending a service of commemoration in Deal, Kent, where two casualties of the raid were buried in the Hamilton Road Cemetery. On 15 January 1965, Churchill suffered a severe stroke and died at his London home nine days later, aged 90, on the morning of Sunday, 24 January 1965, 70 years to the day after his own father's death.[497]

Funeral
 Churchill's grave at St Martin's Church, Bladon
Churchill's funeral plan had been initiated in 1953, after he suffered a major stroke, under the name Operation Hope Not. The purpose was to commemorate Churchill "on a scale befitting his position in history", as Queen Elizabeth II declared.[498]

The funeral was the largest state funeral in world history up to that time, with representatives from 112 nations; only China did not send an emissary. In Europe, 350 million people, including 25 million in Britain, watched the funeral on television, and only the Republic of Ireland did not broadcast it live.[499]

By decree of the Queen, his body lay in state in Westminster Hall for three days and a state funeral service was held at St Paul's Cathedral on 30 January 1965.[500] One of the largest assemblages of statesmen in the world was gathered for the service. Unusually, the Queen attended the funeral because Churchill was the first commoner since William Gladstone to lie-in-State.[501] As Churchill's lead-lined coffin passed up the River Thames from Tower Pier to Festival Pier on the MV Havengore, dockers lowered their crane jibs in a salute.[502]

The Royal Artillery fired the 19-gun salute due a head of government, and the RAF staged a fly-by of sixteen English Electric Lightning fighters. The coffin was then taken the short distance to Waterloo station where it was loaded onto a specially prepared and painted carriage as part of the funeral train for its rail journey to Hanborough,[503] seven miles northwest of Oxford.

 Sir Winston Churchill's funeral train passing Clapham Junction
The funeral train of Pullman coaches carrying his family mourners was hauled by Battle of Britain class steam locomotive No. 34051 Winston Churchill. In the fields along the route, and at the stations through which the train passed, thousands stood in silence to pay their last respects. At Churchill's request, he was buried in the family plot at St Martin's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, not far from his birthplace at Blenheim Palace. Churchill's funeral van—former Southern Railway van S2464S—is now part of a preservation project with the Swanage Railway, having been repatriated to the UK in 2007 from the US, to where it had been exported in 1965.[504]

Later in 1965 a memorial to Churchill, cut by the engraver Reynolds Stone, was placed in Westminster Abbey.[505]

Artist, historian, and writer
Allies (1995) by Lawrence Holofcener, a sculptural group depicting Franklin D. Roosevelt and Churchill in New Bond Street, London
Main articles: Winston Churchill as historian and Winston Churchill as writer

Churchill was an accomplished amateur artist and took great pleasure in painting, especially after his resignation as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915.[506] He found a haven in art to overcome the spells of depression which some say he suffered throughout his life. As William Rees-Mogg has stated, "In his own life, he had to suffer the 'black dog' of depression. In his landscapes and still lives there is no sign of depression."[507] Churchill was persuaded and taught to paint by his artist friend, Paul Maze, whom he met during the First World War. Maze was a great influence on Churchill's painting and became a lifelong painting companion.[508]

Churchill's best known paintings are impressionist landscapes, many of which were painted while on holiday in the South of France, Egypt or Morocco.[507] Using the pseudonym "Charles Morin",[353] he continued his hobby throughout his life and painted hundreds of paintings, many of which are on show in the studio at Chartwell as well as private collections.[509] Most of his paintings are oil-based and feature landscapes, but he also did a number of interior scenes and portraits. In 1925 Lord Duveen, Kenneth Clark, and Oswald Birley selected his Winter Sunshine as the prize winner in a contest for anonymous amateur artists.[510]:46–47 Due to obvious time constraints, Churchill attempted only one painting during the Second World War. He completed the painting from the tower of the Villa Taylor in Marrakesh.[511]

Some of his paintings can today be seen in the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection at the Dallas Museum of Art. Emery Reves was Churchill's American publisher, as well as a close friend[512] and Churchill often visited Emery and his wife Wendy Russell Reves at their villa, La Pausa, in the South of France, which had originally been built in 1927 for Coco Chanel by her lover the 2nd Duke of Westminster. The villa was rebuilt within the museum in 1985 with a gallery of Churchill paintings and memorabilia.[513][514]

Gunther estimated in 1939 that Churchill earned $100,000 a year ($1.39 million in 2016) from writing and lecturing, but that "of this he spends plenty".[366] Despite his lifelong fame and upper-class origins, Churchill always struggled to keep his income at a level which would fund his extravagant lifestyle. MPs before 1946 received only a nominal salary (and in fact did not receive anything at all until the Parliament Act 1911) so many had secondary professions from which to earn a living.[515] From his first book in 1898 until his second stint as Prime Minister, Churchill's income while out of office was almost entirely from writing books and opinion pieces for newspapers and magazines, among them the fortnightly columns that appeared in the Evening Standard from 1936 warning of the rise of Hitler and the danger of the policy of appeasement.[516]

Churchill was a prolific writer, often under the pen name "Winston S. Churchill", which he used by agreement with the American novelist of the same name to avoid confusion between their works. His output included a novel, two biographies, three volumes of memoirs, and several histories. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953 "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values".[517] Two of his most famous works, published after his first premiership brought his international fame to new heights, were his six-volume memoir The Second World War and A History of the English-Speaking Peoples; a four-volume history covering the period from Caesar's invasions of Britain (55 BC) to the beginning of the First World War (1914).[518] A number of volumes of Churchill's speeches were also published. the first of which, Into Battle, was published in the United States under the title Blood, Sweat and Tears, and was included in Life Magazine's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924–1944.[519]

Churchill was an amateur bricklayer, constructing buildings and garden walls at his country home at Chartwell,[353] where he also bred butterflies.[520] As part of this hobby Churchill joined the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers,[521] but was expelled due to his revived membership in the Conservative Party.[353]

Churchill was passionate about science and technology. When he was 22 he read Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species and a primer on physics. In the 1920s and 1930s, he wrote popular-science essays on topics such as evolution and fusion power. In an unpublished manuscript, Are We Alone in the Universe?, he investigates the possibility of extraterrestrial life in a thoroughly scientific way.[522][523]

Political ideology

Churchill was a career politician, with biographer Robert Rhodes James describing him as a man "who was to devote himself for his entire adult life to the profession of politics".[524] In James' view, Churchill was "fundamentally a very conservative man", and that this "basic conservatism was a conspicuous feature of his political attitudes".[525] Gilbert described Churchill as being "liberal in outlook" throughout his life,[526] although Jenkins thought that "there is room for argument about whether he was ever an engrained philosophical Liberal".[527]

Liberalism is not Socialism, and never will be. There is a great gulf fixed. It is not a gulf of method, it is a gulf of principle... Socialism seeks to pull down wealth; Liberalism seeks to raise up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests; Liberalism would preserve private interests in the only way in which they can be safely and justly preserved, namely by reconciling them with public right. Socialism would kill enterprise; Liberalism would rescue enterprise from the trammels of privilege and preference... Socialism exalts the rule; Liberalism exalts the man. Socialism attacks capital; Liberalism attacks monopoly.

— Winston Churchill on liberalism and socialism, 1908[528]

Gilbert described Churchill as "a radical" who believed that the state was needed to ensure "minimum standards of life, labour and social well-being for all citizens". [529] Many Liberals doubted the conviction of his radicalism when it came to social reform.[530] Churchill's speeches on liberalism emphasised the retention of Britain's existing social structure and the need for "gradualness" rather than revolutionary change;[531] he accepted and endorsed the existence of class divisions in British society.[532] Churchill sought social reform not out of a desire to challenge the existing social structure but out of an attempt to preserve it.[533] Charles Masterman, a Liberal reformer who knew Churchill, stated that the latter "desired in England, a state of things where a benign upper class dispensed benefits to an industrious, bien pendant, and grateful working class".[530] In Jenkins' view, Churchill's privileged background prevented him from empathising with the poor, and instead he "sympathize[d] with them from on high".[534] As a minister, Churchill engaged in anti-socialist rhetoric,[535] and sought to clearly differentiate socialism from liberalism.[536]

Although Churchill had upset both Edward VII and George V in his political career, he always remained a firm monarchist,[537] displaying a romanticised view of the British monarchy.[538] Jenkins described Churchill's opposition to protectionism as being based on a "profound conviction",[539] although during his political career many questioned the sincerity of Churchill's anti-protectionist beliefs.[540] Although as Home Secretary he found sanctioning executions to be one of his most emotionally taxing tasks, he did not endorse the abolition of the death penalty.[541]

Churchill exhibited a romanticised view of the British Empire.[538] Churchill was well disposed to Zionism.[542]

Links to political parties

James described Churchill as having "no permanent commitment to any" party, and that his "shifts of allegiance were never unconnected with his personal interests".[543] When campaigning for his Oldham seat in 1899, Churchill referred to himself as a Conservative and a Tory Democrat;[544] the following year, he referred to Liberals as "prigs, prudes, and faddists".[540] In a 1902 letter to a fellow Conservative, Churchill stated that he had "broad, tolerant, moderate views—a longing for compromise and agreement—a disdain for cant of all kinds—a hatred for extremists whether they be Jingos or Pro-Boers; and I confess the idea of a central party, fresher, freer, more efficient, yet, above all, loyal and patriotic, is very pleasing to my heart."[545] This dream of a "Centre Party" that would bring together more moderate elements of the main British parties—and thus remain permanently in office—was a recurring one for Churchill.[546]

By 1903, he was increasingly dissatisfied with the Conservatives, in part due to their promotion of economic protectionism, but also because he had attracted the animosity of many party members and was likely aware that this might have prevented him gaining a Cabinet position under a Conservative government. The Liberal Party was then attracting growing support, and so his defection may have also have been influenced by personal ambition.[547] In a 1903 letter, he referred to himself as an "English Liberal... I hate the Tory party, their men, their words and their methods".[548] Jenkins noted that, with Lloyd George, Churchill formed "a partnership of constructive radicalism, two social reforming New Liberals who had turned their backs on the old Gladstonian tradition of concentrating on libertarian political issues and leaving social conditions to look after themselves".[154]

Throughout his political career, Churchill's relationship with the Conservative Party was stormy.[532]

Personal life

Churchill firmly believed himself to be a man of destiny.[549] Churchill biographers have described him as egocentric,[550] brash,[551] self-confident and self-centred.[552] He had a good memory,[553] and could be reckless.[538] Describing Churchill's "ebullient personality",[554] Jenkins noted that in his youth, Churchill displayed "impetuous self-centredness" and "rash courage".[555] Jenkins added that Churchill displayed a "self-confidence and determination always to go straight to the top" when dealing with a situation, approaching the highest ranking official he could,[556] while James described him as "a career politician, profoundly ambitious and eager for prominence".[557]

Jenkins stated that in his early parliamentary years, Churchill was "often deliberately provocative";[558] James called it "deliberately aggressive".[559] James was of the view that, when speaking in the House of Commons, Churchill gave the impression of having a chip on his shoulder.[551] His barbed rhetorical style earned him many enemies in parliament,[560] and many Conservatives disliked him for his open criticism of Balfour and subsequent defection to the Liberals.[561] Gilbert stated that in his early parliamentary career, Churchill reflected "zeal, intelligence, and eagerness to learn".[109] Churchill developed a reputation for being a heavy drinker of alcoholic beverages, although this was often over-exaggerated.[562] In India, he enjoyed playing polo.[563] Gilbert noted that Churchill's literary style was "outspoken, vigorous, with the written equivalent of a mischievous grin".[98] Jenkins thought that Churchill was excited and exhilarated by war, but that he was never indifferent to the suffering that it caused.[564]

From childhood, Churchill had been unable to pronounce the letter s, verbalising it with a slur.[53] This lateral lisp continued throughout his career, reported consistently by journalists of the time and later. Authors writing in the 1920s and 1930s, before sound recording became common, also mentioned Churchill having a stutter, describing it in terms such as "severe" or "agonising".[565] The Churchill Centre and Museum says the majority of records show his impediment was a lateral lisp, while Churchill's stutter is a myth.[566] His dentures were specially designed to aid his speech.[567] After many years of public speeches carefully prepared not only to inspire, but also to avoid hesitations, he could finally state, "My impediment is no hindrance".[568] James thought that, in part because of his speech impediment, Churchill was "not a natural impromptu speaker".[569] Churchill therefore memorised speeches before he gave them.[570] Gilbert believed that during the early 1900s, when Churchill worked as a professional speech giver, he mastered "every aspect of the art of speech-making".[571] Jenkins noted that "Churchill lived by phrase-making. He thought rhetorically, and was constantly in danger of his policy being made by his phrases rather than vice versa."[572] For James, Churchill was "particularly effective" at "invective and raillery" and that he was "at his most effective when he made deliberate use of humour and sarcasm".[573]

For Jenkins, Churchill was "singularly lacking in inhibition or concealment",[574] and for James he "lacked any capacity for intrigue and was refreshingly innocent and straightforward".[575] Jenkins stated that Churchill "naturally had a lively sympathy for the underdog, particularly against the middle-dog, provided, and it was quite a big proviso, that his own position as a top-dog was unchallenged".[576] He was a particular fan of polo, a sport that he played while stationed in India.[538]

Churchill displayed particular loyalty to his family and close friends.[577] For instance, when Lloyd George was going through the Marconi scandal, one of the lowest points of his career, Churchill supported him.[578] One of his closest friends, even when he was a Liberal, was the Conservative MP F. E. Smith.[579] In 1911, he became close with Grey,[580] and another longstanding friend was Violet Asquith.[581] Like his father, Churchill faced jibes that all of his friends were Jewish.[145]

In 1900, he retired from the regular army, and in 1902 joined the Imperial Yeomanry, where he was commissioned as a Captain in the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars on 4 January 1902.[582] Later in 1902, he was initiated into Freemasonry at Studholme Lodge #1591, London, and raised to the Third Degree on 25 March 1902.[583] In April 1905, he was promoted to Major and appointed to command of the Henley Squadron of the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars.[584] In September 1916, he transferred to the territorial reserves of officers, where he remained until retiring in 1924 as a Major.[584]

Marriage and children

Further information: Descendants of Winston Churchill

 A young Winston Churchill and fiancée Clementine Hozier shortly before their marriage in 1908
Churchill met his future wife, Clementine Hozier, in 1904 at a ball in Crewe House, home of the Earl of Crewe and Crewe's wife Margaret Primrose (daughter of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, and Hannah Rothschild).[585] In 1908, they met again at a dinner party hosted by Lady St Helier. Churchill found himself seated beside Clementine, and they soon began a lifelong romance.[586] He proposed to Clementine during a house party at Blenheim Palace on 10 August 1908, in a small Temple of Diana.[587][588]

On 12 September 1908, he and Clementine were married in St. Margaret's, Westminster.[160] A. G. Edwards, the Bishop of St Asaph, conducted the service.[589] Their first child, Diana, was born in London on 11 July 1909. After the pregnancy, Clementine moved to Sussex to recover, while Diana stayed in London with her nanny.[590][591] On 28 May 1911, their second child, Randolph, was born at 33 Eccleston Square.[592] Their third child, Sarah, was born on 7 October 1914 at Admiralty House. The birth was marked with anxiety for Clementine, as Churchill had been sent to Antwerp by the Cabinet to "stiffen the resistance of the beleaguered city" after news that the Belgians intended to surrender the town.[593] Clementine gave birth to her fourth child, Marigold Frances Churchill, on 15 November 1918, four days after the official end of the First World War.[594]

In the early days of August 1921, the Churchills' children were entrusted to a French nursery governess in Kent, Mlle Rose. Clementine travelled to Eaton Hall to play tennis with Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, and his family. While still under the care of Mlle Rose, Marigold had a cold but was reported to have recovered from the illness. As the illness progressed with hardly any notice, it turned into septicaemia. Rose sent for Clementine, but the illness proved fatal on 23 August 1921, and Marigold was buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery three days later.[595] On 15 September 1922, the Churchills' last child, Mary, was born. Later that month, the Churchills bought Chartwell, which would be their home until Winston's death in 1965.[596][597] According to Jenkins, Churchill was an "enthusiastic and loving father" but one who expected too much of his children.[598]

The Churchills were married for 57 years.[159] Churchill was aware of the strain that his political career placed on his marriage.[599]

Relationship with Lady Castlerosse

In autumn 1985, Churchill's former private secretary, Sir John Colville, was interviewed by archivists at Churchill College, Cambridge. During the interview Colville reported that Churchill had had a 'brief affair' with Doris, Viscountess Castlerosse, a glamorous aristocrat. During the 1930s, while he was out of political office, Churchill spent four holidays with Castlerosse, in the south of France. Churchill painted at least two portraits of Castlerosse. Following the revival of his political career, in the late 1930s, Churchill ended the relationship. In the late 1950s, Castlerosse's love letters to Churchill were revealed to Clementine. Churchill's relationship with Castlerosse was the subject of a documentary shown on Channel 4, on 4 March 2018.[600]

Religion

Churchill had never been a Christian and has been described as an agnostic.[601] In 1898 he wrote to his mother stating that "I do not accept the Christian or any other form of religious belief".[602] In a letter to his cousin he referred to religion as "a delicious narcotic" and expressed a preference for Protestantism over Roman Catholicism, relating that he felt it "a step nearer Reason".[603]

Churchill was very interested in Islam and the culture of the Orient, to the point that relatives feared he might convert. In 1907, Churchill received a letter from his future sister-in-law, Lady Gwendoline Bertie, in which she pleaded: "Please don't become converted to Islam; I have noticed in your disposition a tendency to orientalise [fascination with the Orient and Islam], Pasha-like tendencies, I really have".[604]

During the Boer War, Churchill often prayed during the heat of battle, but he admitted that he thought it was an unreasonable thing to do. He reflected that: "The practice [of prayer] was comforting and the reasoning led nowhere. I therefore acted in accordance with my feelings without troubling to square such conduct with the conclusions of thought".[605]

Pets and animals

See also: Winston Churchill's pets

Churchill was an animal lover and owned a wide range of animals, including dogs, cats, horses, pigs, fish, and black swans, many of which were kept at Chartwell.[606]

Honours

The statue of Churchill (1973) by Ivor Roberts-Jones in Parliament Square, London
 Coat of arms of Winston Churchill
Main article: Honours of Winston Churchill

In addition to the honour of a state funeral, Churchill received a wide range of awards and other honours, including the following, chronologically:
Churchill was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1907.
He was conferred the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1922.[607]
He was awarded the Territorial Decoration for his long service in the Territorial Army in 1924.[607]
Churchill was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1941[607]
In 1941, he was appointed to the Privy Council of Canada.[608]
In 1945, while Churchill was mentioned by Halvdan Koht as one of seven appropriate candidates for the Nobel Prize in Peace, the nomination went to Cordell Hull.[609]
He was conferred the Order of Merit in 1946.[607]
In 1953, Churchill was invested as a Knight of the Garter (becoming Sir Winston Churchill, KG), and awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his numerous published works, especially his six-volume set The Second World War.
In 1958, Churchill College, Cambridge was founded in his honour.
In 1963, Churchill was named an Honorary Citizen of the United States by Public Law 88-6/H.R. 4374 (approved/enacted 9 April 1963).[610][611]
On 29 November 1995, during a visit to the United Kingdom, President Bill Clinton of the United States announced to both Houses of Parliament that an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer would be named the USS Winston S. Churchill. This was the first United States warship to be named after an Englishman since the end of the American Revolution.[612]
In a BBC poll of the "100 Greatest Britons" in 2002, he was proclaimed "The Greatest of Them All" based on approximately a million votes from BBC viewers.[613] Churchill was also rated as one of the most influential leaders in history by TIME.[614]

Military ranks and appointments

  Churchill inspecting the 4th Queen's Own Hussars, of which he was the Colonel of the Regiment, in Italy during 1944

 Churchill in his air commodore's uniform

  Churchill in his 4th Queen's Own Hussars colonel's uniform crossing the Rhine.
Churchill held substantive ranks in the British Army and in the Territorial Army since he was commissioned as a Cornet in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars until his retirement from the Territorial Army in 1924 with the rank of Major, having held the temporary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel during the Great War.[615]

In addition he held many honorary military appointments. In 1939, he was appointed as an Honorary Air Commodore in the Auxiliary Air Force and was awarded honorary wings in 1943.[616] In 1941, he was made a Regimental Colonel of the 4th Hussars. During the Second World War, he frequently wore his uniform as an Air Commodore and as a Colonel of the Hussars. After the war he was appointed as the Colonel in Chief of the 4th Hussars,[617] Queen's Royal Irish Hussars[618] and the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars.[619]

In 1913, he was appointed an Elder Brother of Trinity House as result of his appointment as First Lord of the Admiralty.[620] He held the post of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports from 1941 until his death and in that capacity was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 89th (Cinque Ports) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery, on 20 February 1942.[621] In 1949, he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of Kent.

Resuming, Churchill held the following military ranks and appointments[622]:
Cornet, later Lieutenant, 4th Queen's Own Hussars (1895)
Captain, Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars (1902)
Major, 2nd Bn/Grenadier Guards (provisional, December 1915)
Lt.Colonel, 6th Bn/Royal Scots Fusiliers (provisional, January-March 1916)
Major, Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars, Territorial Army (1916 - retired 1924)
Air Commodore, 615th (Co.of Surrey) Fighter Sqn Royal Auxiliary Air Force (honorary, 1939)
Honorary Colonel, 63rd Oxfordshire Yeomanry Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery (1939)
Honorary Colonel, 6th Bn/Royal Scots Fusiliers (1940)
Regimental Colonel, 4th Queen's Own Hussars (1941)
Colonel-in-Chief, 4th Queen's Own Hussars (1941), later Queen's Royal Irish Hussars (1958)
Colonel-in-Chief, Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars (1941)
Honorary Colonel, 5th (Cinque Ports) Bn/Royal Sussex Rgt (1941), later 4th/5th Bn/Royal Sussex Rgt.(1943)
Honorary Colonel, 89th (Cinque Ports) Heavy Anti-Airctaft Rgt, Royal Artillery (1942)
Honorary Colonel, 4th Bn/Essex Rgt, Territorial Army (1945)
Honorary Colonel, 6th (Cinque Ports) Cadet Bn, the Buffs (1946)
Honorary Colonel, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire Yeomanty, Royal Artillery (1950)

Reception and legacy

The historian Robert Rhodes James stated that Churchill had lived an "exceptionally long, complex, and controversial life", one which—in the realm of British parliamentary politics—was comparable only to Gladstone's in its "length, drama and incident".[623] Churchill's reputation among the general British public remains high: he was voted number one in a 2002 BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons of all time.[624] Throughout his career, Churchill's outspokenness earned him enemies,[75] and his legacy continues to stir intense debate among writers and historians.[1] By the time he entered the House of Commons as an MP, he was already controversial, perceived by many as "an adventurer and a medal-hunter".[625] Up until 1939, his approach to politics resulted in there developing a widespread "mistrust and dislike" of him,[623] an attitude exacerbated by his repeated party defections.[543] When First Lord of the Admiralty, many "critics denigrated him" as being "reckless, ignorant, and unprincipled, a political upstart with no understanding of the glorious traditions and methods of work of the Royal Navy".[626]

Haffner believed that Churchill had an "affinity with war", exhibiting "a profound and innate understanding of it."[563] In his later career, Churchill gained a reputation as being the last Victorian in British politics;[627] Jenkins thought that this was not a fair assessment, stating that he remained "essentially an Edwardian rather than a Victorian" in his attitudes.[627] Jenkins also remarked that Churchill had "a substantial record as a social reformer" for his work in the first part of his parliamentary career;[534] similarly, James thought that as a social reformer "his achievements were considerable".[628] In James' view, this had been achieved because "as a minister [Churchill] had three outstanding qualities. He worked hard; he put his proposals efficiently through the Cabinet and Parliament; he carried his Department with him. These ministerial merits are not as common as might be thought."[629]

 Statue of Churchill in Westerham, Kent
Between 1966 and 1988, an eight-volume biography of Churchill was published, started by Randolph Churchill but completed largely by Martin Gilbert after the former's death in 1968.[630] James suggested that this official biography was a "labour of love" for Randolph Churchill, and that "what was so admirable in the son, was... les desirable in the biographer."[631] According to Allen Packwood, director of the Churchill Archives Centre, even during his own lifetime Churchill was an "incredibly complex, contradictory and larger-than-life human being," who frequently wrestled with those contradictions.[632]

Notably, his strongly held and outspoken views on race have frequently been highlighted, quoted and strongly criticised.[633] However, historian Richard Toye has observed that in the context of the era, Churchill was not "particularly unique" in having strong opinions on race and the superiority of white peoples, even if many of his contemporaries did not subscribe to them.

While staunchly opposed to labour unions and holding Communist agitation responsible for the Labour movement during the 1920s, he supported social reform, if more in the spirit of Victorian paternalism.[632] From early on, his reputation as an unbending imperialist was well established. At the November 1921 cabinet meeting where a final decision on a proposal to retrocede Weihaiwei to China was to be made, he, alone with George Curzon, another uncompromising imperialist, adamantly opposed the proposal, no matter how worthless the territory was known to be. He lamented Britain’s historic readiness to barter away places such as Java and Corfu, asking "Why melt down the capital collected by our forebears to please a lot of pacifists?"[634]

Churchill's attitudes towards and policies regarding Indians and Britain's rule of the subcontinent are frequently criticised, and have left a lasting and highly contentious mark on his legacy. Historian Walter Reid, who has written admiringly about Churchill's premiership and "absolutely crucial role during the Second World War," has however acknowledged that Churchill "was very wrong in relation to India, where his conduct fell far below his usual level." Reid further observes that while it remains "tough to give a nuanced view on Churchill in a few words," Churchill's efforts and those of several fellow back-bench parliamentarians in the 1930s to manipulate the 1935 Government of India Act further entrenched religious and political divisions amongst Hindus, Muslims and the Indian princely rulers

Winston Churchill

Life

Winston Churchill as historian ·
 Winston Churchill as painter ·
 Winston Churchill as writer ·
 Winston Churchill in politics, 1900–1939  (Timeline ·
 War Rooms ·
 conferences ·
 Percentages agreement ·
 Quebec Agreement)
   ·
 Statement on Atrocities  (European Advisory Commission)
   ·
 Honours of Winston Churchill ·
 Later life of Winston Churchill  (funeral ·
 gravesite)
   ·
 The Other Club ·
 Blenheim Palace ·
 Chartwell
 

Churchill portrait NYP 45063.jpg
 

Writings

The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898) ·
 Savrola (1899 novel) ·
 The River War (1899) ·
 London to Ladysmith via Pretoria (1900) ·
 Ian Hamilton's March (1900) ·
 Lord Randolph Churchill (1906) ·
 The World Crisis (1923–1931, five volumes) ·
 My Early Life (1930) ·
 Marlborough: His Life and Times (1933–1938, four volumes) ·
 Great Contemporaries (1937) ·
 Arms and the Covenant (1938) ·
 The Second World War (1948–1963, six volumes) ·
 A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956–1958, four volumes)
 

Speeches

"Blood, toil, tears, and sweat" ·
 "Be ye men of valour" ·
 "We shall fight on the beaches" ·
 "This was their finest hour" ·
 "Never was so much owed by so many to so few" ·
 "Iron Curtain"
 

Legacy and
 depictions

Palace of Westminster statue ·
 Parliament Square statue ·
 Washington, DC, statue ·
 Epstein bust ·
 Memorial Trusts ·
 Churchill College, Cambridge ·
 Churchill Archives Centre ·
 The Churchill Centre ·
 US Churchill Museum ·
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 Churchillian Drift
 

Related

Norway Debate ·
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 Tonypandy riots ·
 May 1940 War Cabinet Crisis ·
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 Operation Unthinkable
 

Family

Lord Randolph Churchill (father) ·
 Jennie Jerome, Lady Randolph Churchill (mother) ·
 Jack Churchill (brother) ·
 Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill (wife) ·
 Diana Churchill (daughter) ·
 Randolph Churchill (son) ·
 Sarah Churchill (daughter) ·
 Marigold Churchill (daughter) ·
 Mary Soames, Baroness Soames (daughter) ·
 Descendants ·
 John Spencer-Churchill (grandfather) ·
 Frances Anne Spencer-Churchill (grandmother) ·
 Leonard Jerome (grandfather) ·
 Clarissa Eden (niece)
 
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1927–1950

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 Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932) ·
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1951–1975

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1976–2000

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2001–present

Rudolph Giuliani (2001) ·
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 The American Soldier (2003) ·
 George W. Bush (2004) ·
 The Good Samaritans: Bono / Bill Gates / Melinda Gates (2005) ·
 You (2006) ·
 Vladimir Putin (2007) ·
 Barack Obama (2008) ·
 Ben Bernanke (2009) ·
 Mark Zuckerberg (2010) ·
 The Protester (2011) ·
 Barack Obama (2012) ·
 Pope Francis (2013) ·
 Ebola Fighters: Dr. Jerry Brown / Dr. Kent Brantly / Ella Watson-Stryker / Foday Gollah / Salome Karwah (2014) ·
 Angela Merkel (2015) ·
 Donald Trump (2016) ·
 The Silence Breakers (2017)