Winston Churchill
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Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill also known as Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born on November 30, 1874 in Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England. He is the son of Lord Randolph Churchill and Jeanette Jerome. He has four daughters and one son: Diana Churchill, Sarah Churchill, Marigold Churchill, Mary Churchill, and Randolph Churchill.
Winston’s father, Randolph Winston’s Churchill was an England statesman and a nobleman. He served as Lord President of the Council in Lord Derby’s in 1867-1868. He served in the army in India and Africa. He rose in the Liberal ranks, serving as president of the board of trade, home secretary, and first lord of the admiralty. During disastrous Gallipolis campaign, he was returned to office at the ministry of munitions, and then was secretary for war and air, and later colonial secretary. He passed away of syphilis when Winston was 20 years old.
Winston’s mother, Jeanette (Jennie) Jerome, known as Lady Randolph Churchill, was born January 9, 1854 in Brooklyn, New York. She was an American society beauty, best known to history as the mother of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. She first got married in Paris France to Lord Randolph Churchill at the British Embassy. By this marriage, she obtained the title Lady Randolph Churchill. They had two sons together: Winston Churchill and John Strange Spencer Churchill. People had their doubts that John Churchill was not Lord Randolph Churchill son because Jeanette had other lovers. Jeanette was married two other times. She died in 1921 after surgery, because she had to remove her infected leg. She was buried in the Churchill plot at St. Martin’s Churchyard, Bladon, England.
Winston had a nanny, Mrs. Elizabeth Everest, when he was younger. When he was grown, he became good friends with her. She was more like a sister then a mother to him. She also helped his early career grow. When she died, Winston was distraught.
Winston went to school at Harrow. He was doing horribly in school. He had been regularly punished for his poor work and lack of effort. His nature was independent and rebellious and failed to achieve much academically. It took him three times to pass the entrance exam to enroll in the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in 1894.
After passing out of Sandhurst and gaining his payment in the 4th Hussars’ in February 1895, Churchill saw his first shots fired in anger during a semi-official expedition to Cuba later that year. In 1897, he served in the Indian army in the Malakand expedition. He saw more action on the North West Frontier of India, fighting against the Pathans. He wrote a book about his experiences in 1898. It was called “The Story of the Malakand Field Force”. He soon became an accomplished war reporter, getting paid large sums for stories he sent to the press. That was something that did not make him popular with his senior officers.
Using his mother’s influence, Churchill got himself assigned to Kitcheners army in Egypt. While fighting against the Dervishes he took part in the last great cavalry charge in English history at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. Churchill had always been determined, as he said, to beat his sword into an iron dispatch box. So in 1899, he left the army to stand for the legislative body. He was defeated and almost immediately left for South Africa as war correspondent for the Morning Post. Never able to resist a fight, he took part in the defense of armored train, which had been ambushed by the Boers. He was captured and treated as a prisoner of war, but within a few weeks, he escaped and made his way back to Durvan. Churchill was hailed as a hero and took advantage of his status. He always treated advancement as a springboard not a sofa. He obtained a military commission from the Commander-in-Chief but continued to act as a war correspondent, enjoying many further adventures.
On returning to England, he wrote another book about his experiences called “London to Ladysmith”. Churchill was first elected to parliament in 1900 shortly before the death of Queen Victoria. In 1904, Churchill left the party to join Liberals. In the 1906
General Election Churchill won North West Manchester and immediately became a member of the new Liberal government as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. He was in position to share in the long Liberal run of power and to take his place in one of the ablest British governments in modern times. As undersecretary of the state for the colonies, he play a considerable part in making a generous peace with the Boers. He published the authoritative biography “Lord Randolph Churchill” (2 vols.), and in 1908 “My African Journey”. These