Winston Churchill

The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, FRS PC (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. At various times a soldier, journalist, author and politician, Churchill is generally regarded as one of the most important leaders in British and world history. He won the 1953 Nobel Prize in literature.

Early life

Born at Blenheim Palace, near Oxfordshire Woodstock. Winston Churchill was a descendant of the first famous member of the Churchill family, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Winston's politician father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was the third son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough; Winston's mother was Lady Randolph Churchill (née Jennie Jerome), daughter of American millionaire Leonard Jerome. Neither parent showed young Winston much affection or love.

Related Topics:
Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire Woodstock - John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough - Lord Randolph Churchill - 7th Duke of Marlborough - Jennie Jerome - Leonard Jerome

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Churchill spent much of his childhood at boarding schools, including the Headmaster's House at Harrow School. He famously sat the entrance exam but on confronting the latin paper he carefully wrote the title, his name and the number 1 followed by a dot and could not think of anything else to write. He was accepted despite this, but placed in the bottom division where they were primarily taught English which he excelled at. Today at Harrow there is an annual Churchill essay prize on a subject chosen by the head of the english department. He was rarely visited by his mother, whom he virtually worshipped, despite his letters begging her to either come or let his father permit him to come home. He had a distant relationship with his father despite keenly following his father's career. Once, in 1886, he is reported to have proclaimed "My daddy is Chancellor of the Exchequer and one day that's what I'm going to be." His desolate, lonely childhood stayed with him throughout his life.

Related Topics:
Headmaster's House - Harrow School - Chancellor of the Exchequer

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He was very close to his nurse, Elizabeth Ann Everest (nicknamed "Woom" by Churchill), and was deeply saddened when she died on July 3, 1895. Churchill paid for her gravestone at the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium.

Related Topics:
July 3 - 1895

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Churchill did badly at Harrow, regularly being punished for poor work and lack of effort. His nature was independent and rebellious and he failed to achieve much academically, failing some of the same courses numerous times despite showing great ability in other areas such as maths and history, in both of which he was placed at times top in his class. But his refusal to study the classics undermined any chance of success at a school like Harrow.

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The view of Churchill as a failure at school is one which he himself propagated, probably due to his father's intense dislike of the young Winston and his obvious readiness to label his son a disappointment. He did, however, become the school's fencing champion.

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Churchill attended the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.

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Churchill then became a war correspondent in the second Anglo-Boer war between Britain and Afrikaners in South Africa. He was captured in a Boer ambush of a British Army train convoy and thrown into prison. However, he made a daring escape which made him something of a national hero.

Related Topics:
War correspondent - Anglo-Boer war - Afrikaners - South Africa - Boer

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