Who was Winston Churchill?
Politician and British Prime Minister during
the Second World War.
Date and Place of Birth:
30th November 1874, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire,
England.
Family Background:
Eldest son of Lord Randolph Churchill and his
American wife Jenny. He was a direct descendant of John Churchill,
First Duke of Marlborough.
Education:
Harrow School. Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
Chronology/Biography of Winston Churchill:
1895: Commissioned
in the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars.
1897: Served in
the Malakand campaign.
1898: Served in
the Nile campaign, and as a correspondent for a London Newspaper
during the Boer War. He was captured but escaped and a £25 reward
was offered for his re-arrest.
1900: Entered Parliament
as a Conservative MP.
1906: Crossed the
floor of the House of Commons to join the ruling Liberal Party.
He was appointed Colonial Under-Secretary.
1908: As President
of the Board of Trade he introduced Labour Exchanges.
1912: As Home Secretary
he witnessed the Siege of Sidney Street and as First Lord of the
admiralty he began strengthening Britain’s army and navy for the
war with Germany that he could see coming.
1915: His reputation
took a knock after the disastrous Dardanelle’s Expedition in the
First World War.
1917: Prime Minister
David Lloyd George made him Minister
of Munitions.
1919-1921: Held
the office of Secretary of State for War and Air. Afterwards he
fell from favour and was excluded from the Cabinet.
1924-1929: Moved
back to the Conservatives and became Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Played a key role in ending the General Strike of 1926.
1930’s: His warnings
of the rise of Nazism and his criticisms of the National Government’s
unpreparedness for war go unheeded.
1939: Beginning
of the Second World War.
1940: Neville Chamberlain
resigns and Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the wartime Coalition
Government on 13th May.
1940-45: Wins the
support of the British and American people. Develops as an accomplished
orator. Masterminded the overall strategies for the Battle of Britain,
Alamein and the North African Campaign.
1945: Attends the
Yalta Conference with Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt to
try to put an end to the power base of Germany once and for all.
Loses the General election to the Labour Party.
Statue of Churchill in
Parliament Square, London
(© A Blagg)
1951: Elected Prime
Minister again at the age of 77. Promoted the development of Britain’s
first Nuclear weapons. Began a series of measures to help with the
post-war reconstruction of Britain.
1953: Won the Nobel
Prize for Literature.
1955: Retired in
favour of Anthony Eden at the age of 81.
Written Works:
- 1941: "Into
Battle".
- 1948:
"The Second World War".
- 1951: "A
History of the English Speaking Peoples".
Marriage:
1908 to Clementine Hozier.
Places of Interest:
CAMBRIDGESHIRE:
Churchill Archive Centre, Cambridge.
KENT:
Chartwell House, Westerham.
LONDON:
The Cabinet War Rooms, King Charles Street, Whitehall.
OXFORDSHIRE:
Blenheim Palace, Woodstock.
WEST SUSSEX:
Saint Hill Manor, East Grinstead has a mural
of monkeys including one of Churchill.
Date and Place of Death:
24th January 1965, London, England.
Age at Death:
90.
Site of Grave:
St. Martin’s Churchyard, Bladon, Oxfordshire,
England.
