Churchill Exhibition

A painting of the Great Hall by Sir Winston Churchill.

The Spencer-Churchill Destiny Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was a man of great achievements, great passions and great intellectual stature. He himself recognised how much he was influenced and shaped by his ancestry and his family. Churchill was the grandson of the 7th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough; his uncle was the wicked 8th Duke; his cousin and close friend was the 9th Duke. Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace on the 30th November 1874 and baptised in the Palace Chapel on 27th December. Churchill always had a special affection for Blenheim Palace. Many of his formative years were spent at Blenheim under the no nonsense direction of his Grandmother, Frances, 7th Duchess of Marlborough. Along with Nanny Everest, Frances was one of the few people who could exert some control over the young Winston. She was very fond of her grandson but this did not blind her to his need for discipline and she was particularly keen to instill in him the importance of punctuality. Frances gave Churchill his first pony and one of his favourite pastimes was to go riding in the Park. When not riding he spent time fishing in the Lake. He also liked to make „encampments‟ in the Park using an upturned umbrella as a tent. September 15th 1883 My dear Mamma I hope you are quite well. I went out fishing today. I caught my first fish by myself. Jack and I are quite well. With love and kisses Winston

Sir Winston Churchill A Palace childhood As the political career of Winston‟s father (Lord Randolph) developed Winston and his younger brother Jack saw little of their parents. They led a peripatetic existence in the care of Nanny Everest. Time was spent in Ireland when the 7th Duke of Marlborough became Viceroy in 1876; sometimes the boys were in London at their Grandmother‟s residence and at other times they went with their Nanny to the Isle of Wight. Blenheim Palace was always one of Churchill‟s favourite places. Many of Churchill‟s letters show how much he enjoyed life at the Palace. In 1882 Winston wrote from Blenheim to his parents describing the primroses and wild hyacinths he saw on walks in the Park. He also described a walk down to the Cascade where he saw a snake. Later in the year he wrote thanking his mother for gifts of toy soldiers, flags and a castle. During the summer of 1886, he was at Blenheim with Jack and wrote to his mother saying they had been out catching “a good many butterflies”. In 1887 Winston and Jack spent Christmas with Nanny Everest but when she became ill the 7th Duchess saved the day by taking the boys to Blenheim for the New Year. At this time Duchess Frances wrote to Lord Randolph saying that the boys were both in good health. She also said that she thought Winston was a clever little boy but that she had to keep him in good order. She finished by saying that Jack was no trouble at all!

Sir Winston Churchill at school For the young Winston, formal education came as an unpleasant shock. He was first sent to St George‟s School in Ascot where severe physical punishments were an accepted part of the school day. When his health deteriorated, Nanny Everest persuaded Lady Randolph to take him away from Ascot. He was then educated in Brighton in a school run by two gentle spinsters. Whilst he was at Brighton it was his Grandmother, the 7th Duchess, who commented that Winston had grown out of the school and she felt that Harrow would do him good. Churchill went to Harrow on 17th April 1888. At this school Winston did not particularly excel but the Harrow Headmaster did see his potential. Frances kept an eye on Winston and in 1890 when he was returning to school after the summer holidays she wrote to him advising him to take care and to “keep out of scrapes and don‟t flare up so easily…” He was at times quite lonely and sent many letters to his parents asking them to visit. His great joy was the school holidays, many of which were spent at Blenheim. St George‟s School Ascot My Dear Mama I hope you are quite well. I had a nice letter from Jack, but I think Everest held his hand. I will try to be a good boy. Aunty Leonie had been staying at Ascot. I want you to come here for the concert on the 14th December. Aunty Leonie is coming to see the concert. With love and kisses I remain your affectionate son Winston Goodbye XXXXXXXXXXXX

Sir Winston Churchill His first military adventures In 1893, after 3 attempts, Churchill passed his army examinations and entered Sandhurst. There he met with more success than he had achieved at school. At Sandhurst in his written work he came twentieth out of one hundred and thirty and in horse riding he came second. Churchill commented on this success saying he could learn well enough

“the things that mattered”. After passing out from Sandhurst in 1895, Churchill joined the 4th Hussars as a 2nd Lieutenant. He enjoyed the steeple chasing, the polo and the lifestyle, which he found at times a little too expensive. During that same year Churchill travelled to America and from there on to Cuba. He went to witness and report on the rebellion in Cuba for the Daily Graphic. His reports showed that he had some sympathy for the rebels. This first military adventure was to be followed by a posting with the 4th Hussars to India in 1896.

The Oxfordshire Hussars. Churchill sits in the front row 3rd from the right.

Sir Winston Churchill A soldier in India and South Africa Churchill was posted to India in 1896. In 1897 he travelled to the North West frontier and acted again as a War Correspondent, this time for the Daily Telegraph describing the Afghan revolt. As part of the Malakind Field Force Churchill saw action in this conflict and was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery. 1898 found Winston in the Sudan attached to the 21st Lancers. He took part in the cavalry charge at the Battle of Omdurman. He was certainly prepared to be in the thick of battle and some even commented that he seemed reckless of his own life. Winston travelled to South Africa in 1899 as War Correspondent for the Morning Post and whilst reporting on the Boer war he was captured by the Boers. He escaped and upon gaining his freedom he was disappointed to learn that the Boers had offered the sum of £25 as a reward for his recapture. He felt this was a paltry sum. His adventures continued in South Africa where he was pleased to find his cousin and great friend the 9th Duke of Marlborough was also on active duty. Churchill gained a commission in the South African Light Horse and he was present at the relief of the siege of Ladysmith. Churchill‟s military career was put on hold when he decided to stand for election in 1900 as a Conservative for Oldham. He was successful and took up his seat in Parliament in 1901.

Sir Winston Churchill His early years in politics In July 1901 Churchill made his maiden speech in Parliament as the Conservative MP for Oldham. His political career looked set to become almost as eventful as his early military career when, in 1904 he crossed the floor of the House and joined the Liberal Party. This startling action was prompted by his growing concern and dislike for the Government‟s positive view on the use of tariffs. Churchill favoured free trade. The Conservative government resigned in 1905 and in the new Liberal regime Churchill was made Under Secretary for State at the Colonial Office. His political career was thereby well and truly launched. Churchill did not stay at the Colonial Office for long because in 1908 he was appointed President of the Board of Trade and given a seat on the Cabinet. As a member of the Cabinet many of the great reforms of that time were proposed, developed or supported by Churchill. These were reforms such as the principle of the minimum wage, the setting up of Labour Exchanges and national unemployment insurance. From WSC Blenheim Palace Undated – probably 13 August My dearest – I hope you have slept like a stone. I did not get to bed till 1 o‟clock; for Sunny kept me long in discussion about his affairs wh go less prosperously than ours. But from 1 onwards I slept the sleep of the just, & this morning am fresh & fit. Tell me how you feel & whether you mean to get up for breakfast. The purpose of this letter is to send you heaps of love & four kisses XXXX From Your always devoted Winston

Sir Winston Churchill A lifelong love Clementine Hozier was 19 when she met Churchill at a ball in London in 1904. Lady Randolph introduced them and Winston was entranced by her beauty. Unfortunately Winston did not think to ask Clementine to dance so from her point of view it was not a very promising start. They met again at a dinner in 1908 where Winston gave all his attention to Clementine. When he chose to he could be a charming dinner guest. After that evening he was not just attracted by her beauty but also by her intelligence. During the summer of 1908 they met several times and their attachment to each other grew. Churchill decided that there could be no other for him and planned to propose at Blenheim Palace. He spoke to his cousin the 9th Duke of Marlborough and the Duke invited Clementine to join a small party at the Palace. On the Monday evening, Winston asked Clementine to walk in the Rose Garden with him the following morning after breakfast. Clementine arrived promptly but Churchill did not. Having sent a suitability worded note up to Churchill who was still in bed, the Duke took Clementine for a ride around the Park as a distraction. On their return, Clementine found a rather anxious Winston waiting in the Great Hall. As they took their walk, they were forced to shelter from the rain and so it was that Churchill proposed in the Temple of Diana. Clementine asked Winston to keep the engagement from the other guests until she had spoken with her mother but Churchill could not contain himself; he ran across the South Lawn and told all! When Lord Randolph had married Jennie Jerome he had given his wife 3 rings; one was a diamond ring, another was a sapphire and diamond and the third was a ruby and diamond. Jack Churchill‟s wife, Gwendoline, was given the sapphire and diamond ring, Lady Randolph kept the diamond ring and Clementine had the ruby and diamond ring.

Sir Winston Churchill At the centre of State Affairs Many considered Churchill to be a brilliant politician and a remarkable Cabinet Minister, whilst some found it difficult to say anything positive. Despite the mixed reactions to him personally, his political career continued to thrive. Churchill was moved to the Home Office in 1910 where he worked extremely hard and effectively. As Home Secretary he established a distinction between political prisoners and criminals. He had to cope with violent industrial unrest during the coal strikes in Wales and dock and railway strikes in England. In 1911 Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty where he remained until his resignation in 1915. This unhappy and, at the time, seemingly terminal end to his political career had been the result of the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign. At this point he went back into military service and served for some time in the trenches of France during the First World War. Winston Churchill walking across the South Front of Blenheim Palace.

Sir Winston Churchill His family at war Throughout the Second World War Churchill worked startlingly long hours. He developed the habit of having a short sleep during the day so that he could work on into the night. In 1942 Churchill celebrated his 68th birthday but this did not affect his work rate or the miles he travelled. In January 1943 Churchill met Roosevelt at Casablanca and then travelled on to Egypt and Turkey to visit the troops. When he returned home he developed pneumonia and had to convalesce at Chequers and Ditchley. On this occasion Churchill was too ill to attend his regular mid week meeting with the King. So the King came to him. Mary, Churchill‟s youngest daughter, trained as an Antiaircraft Battery Operator and at first was stationed in the middle of Hyde Park. Churchill used to drop by to see how they were getting on during air raids. Randolph, Churchill‟s only son, trained as a parachutist and joined the SAS. In 1944 he was sent to fight in Yugoslavia. During the last terrible year of the war the Churchill family were not without personal worry and loss. One of Clementine‟s nephews Giles was prisoner of war in Colditz and another nephew Esmond was killed whilst flying an RAF bomber. When peace finally came to Europe on V. E. Day, May 8th 1945 Clementine was actually in Russia where she had gone to see the work of her Russian Aid Charity. So Churchill had to celebrate without her by his side.

1939 and the start of war In the years leading up to the declaration of war Churchill often warned about the re-armament of Germany. He watched with growing concern as Italy invaded Abyssinia in 1935 and then as Germany remilitarised the Rhine in 1936. In 1938 the world learnt of the dreadful bombing of civilians in the town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. Germany faced no political, or indeed military, consequences for its actions in the Rhineland or Spain, so in 1938 Hitler annexed his homeland, Austria. By this time the world was expecting war but hoping for peace through a political solution. This proved to be the futile hope of good men operating in impossible circumstances. After Austria, Hitler‟s next ambitions were for the Sudetenland to be reunited with Germany. (Sudetenland was the largely German speaking part of Czechoslovakia.)Understandably Czechoslovakia had deep concerns regarding the extent of Hitler‟s plans. The English Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain flew to Munich to talk with Hitler in a desperate attempt to avoid war and to protect the bulk of Czechoslovakia. He failed on both counts. Hitler took not only the Sudetenland but the whole of Czechoslovakia and then turned his attention to Poland. It was after the invasion of Poland that Britain declared war on Germany, on 3rd September 1939. Churchill was immediately made First Lord of the Admiralty and given a seat in the War Cabinet. In May 1940, Neville Chamberlain resigned and the King called Churchill to form a Government.

Sir Winston Churchill The War Years In the summer of 1940 Churchill‟s driving concern was the imminent invasion of England by Germany. The RAF achieved what at the time seemed impossible and kept the invading forces at bay. Whilst inspiring the nation to repel the invaders, Churchill was also constantly working to acquire from America the materials and food needed to continue the fight. Posters declared the promise “Give us the tools and we shall finish the job”. On 7th December 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, causing desperate loss of life and damage to the American fleet. Thereafter America fought alongside Britain. In 1943 the tide began to turn, in places, against Hitler. The Russians began pushing the Germans out of their homeland. The Allies gained control of North Africa and then invaded Italy. In the Far East, however, the American and Allied forces were locked in an awful struggle with the Japanese. On 4th June 1944, the Allied forces entered Rome and on 6th June Operation Overlord was launched. The D Day landing saw great loss of life but it gave the Allies a valuable foot hold in Europe. After a long and terrible fight the War in Europe ended on 8th May 1945, and Britain went wild with celebration. The ending of hostilities necessitated a general election and in July 1945 the Conservatives lost the election. Suddenly, and rather shockingly, Churchill was no longer in office.

Sir Winston Churchill and his art Churchill first picked up a paint brush in 1915 whilst at Hoe Farm, near Godalming and thereafter wherever Churchill travelled his art equipment went with him. In the summer of 1939 Churchill visited Consuelo and Jacques Balsan at their home, the St Georges Motel, in Normandy. There he painted alongside the artist Paul Maze. Churchill commented to Maze that this would be their last picture in peace time. During the Second World War Churchill painted only one picture and that was in 1943. He had travelled to Casablanca to meet President Roosevelt. After the meeting Churchill painted a view of Marrakesh and the Atlas mountains. He gave this picture to Roosevelt. In 1947, Sir Alfred Munnings, who was President of the Royal Academy, asked Churchill to submit some of his paintings for the Academy‟s summer exhibition. Churchill did so but under the assumed name of David Winter. His work was chosen and then in 1948 the Royal Academy appointed Churchill as Honorary Academician Extraordinary. From this time until Churchill died his work always formed part of the Academy‟s annual exhibition. More honours were to follow and in 1955 the Tate Gallery asked Churchill for one of his pictures to hang as part of the National Collection. In 1958 President Eisenhower wrote to Churchill asking him to agree to a travelling exhibition of his pictures in America. Churchill agreed and Joyce C Hall of Hallmark Cards organised this exhibition. Hallmark had earlier used some of Churchill‟s paintings on their greetings cards. Not long before he died Churchill gave one of his paintings to Queen Elizabeth II for her private collection.

Churchill‟s painting of the Lake and Boathouse

Sir Winston Churchill & His Books Churchill was not just a great orator but also an exceptional writer. In his early military career he generated much needed funds by reporting on various military campaigns for the newspapers. Some military campaigns also formed the basis of his first books. In 1898 he published his book “The story of the Malakand Field Force” which was all about his adventures fighting the Afghan rebels. Churchill wrote another book based on his time in South Africa during the Boer War, called “London to Ladysmith via Pretoria.” This was published in 1900 and proved to be instantly popular. In 1902 his writing took on a personal direction as he began work on a biography of his father, Lord Randolph, who had died in 1895. When his father had been alive Churchill‟s relationship with him had been difficult. In writing the biography Churchill felt he had at last come to know the real man he had always loved from a distance. After the First World War Churchill began work on his War memoirs, which when published in several volumes was called “The World Crisis.” Some years later, in 1929 when a Labour Government was elected and Churchill was out of office, he started work on a huge project which was the biography of the 1st Duke of Marlborough. Churchill was greatly impressed by the military skills of John Churchill, his famous ancestor, for whom Blenheim Palace was built. His next great literary project was his „History of the Second World War.‟ Sir Winston Churchill was without doubt a talented writer and in 1953 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Churchill‟s biography of the First Duke of Marlborough.

The passing of a great man On 11th January 1965 Churchill had a stroke which left him semi-conscious and he died on 24th January. The whole nation went into mourning. Before his death Queen Elizabeth had made it clear that she wanted a State Funeral for Sir Winston and he had said he wanted troops. He was given both. From 26th to 30th January his body lay in State in Westminster Hall. Over 300,000 people filed past to pay their last respects. At the start of his funeral procession to St Paul‟s‟ Cathedral there was a 90 gun salute. His coffin was laid on a gun carriage which was pulled not by horses but by naval ratings and escorted by soldiers from the Grenadier Guards and the Oxfordshire Hussars. At St Paul‟s 3,000 people attended the service and many more waited outside. After the service his coffin was taken along the river and as it passed the cranes from all the building sites alongside the Thames were lowered. The coffin was taken by train from Waterloo Station to Oxfordshire. Churchill had particularly asked to be buried in Bladon Churchyard because this was within sight of Blenheim Palace, near to his parents and his beloved brother Jack.

Sir Winston Spencer-Churchill‟s grave is at Bladon Church. The church tower can be seen from the south lawn.

A young Winston Churchill in the ceremonial uniform of the Oxfordshire Hussars.