Churchill and the Battle of Britain

Churchill and the Battle of Britain — page 7 — there I was on the whole considerably discouraged by my school days 1 He did however manage on the third attempt to pass the exams to enter the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst the place where all officers in the British Army are trained Churchill graduated in 1894 taking up a post as a cavalry officer a soldier on horseback the following year Churchill may have come from a grand and wealthy family but largely due to the huge costs of running and maintaining Blenheim Palace his family was constantly short of money After his father’s death in 1895 Churchill received an allowance from his mother in addition to his army pay But it was never enough to allow him to live him in the style he considered appropriate This may have been one reason why he began to take on work as a war correspondent for various newspapers often alongside his army duties Reporting from Cuba in 1895 he came under fire for the first time on his 21st birthday He also acquired his lifelong love of Cuban cigars 2 Start of a political career Even as he began his army career Churchill was thinking about the possibilities beyond it His father had been active in UK politics as a member of Parliament MP for the Conservative Party a political party that emphasized the traditional values of stability and continuity Churchill was therefore already well connected in the world of politics and after his father’s death he relied on his mother to promote his cause In 1899 Churchill decided to leave the army and pursue a political career His first attempt to become a member of parliament ended in failure But in the general election of 1900 he succeeded in his bid to be Conservative MP for Oldham in the northwest of England Churchill quickly made his mark in politics As an elected MP he entered the House of Commons the lower chamber of Parliament His first speech in the Commons was about the situation in southern Africa and he called for the fair treatment of the defeated Boers 3

Churchill and the Battle of Britain — page 8 — Escaped prisoner In 1899 Churchill worked as a correspondent to report on the war in southern Africa between the British and the Boers of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State In an episode of high drama he showed great bravery in helping to rescue an armored train that was ambushed by the Boers He was taken prisoner but a month later he managed to escape by scrambling over the outer wall of the prison After his safe return Churchill found that he had become a hero His newfound fame played a major part in his election as an MP in 1900 4 It was Churchill’s support for the policy of free trade that caused the first major upheaval of his political career Some members of the Conservative Party including Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain wanted to introduce tariffs taxes on food and other goods that were imported into the United Kingdom They argued that such tariffs would protect UK manufacturing and businesses from what they considered unfair competition from abroad Churchill and other supporters of free trade disagreed It was over this issue that Churchill made the decision in May 1904 to leave the Conservatives and join the opposition Liberal Party This was a bold move and soon Churchill was speaking out against his former colleagues The issue of free trade eventually caused the Conservative prime minister to resign and there was a general election in 1906 When the Liberals won Churchill accepted a post dealing with colonial matters in the new government Class traitor In the following years Churchill played a major role in the Liberal government working at the Board of Trade the committee responsible for the country’s economic life Then in 1910 he became home secretary meaning he was in charge of the HomeOffice with responsibility for security the police immigration and more He helped to introduce many anti-poverty laws and was involved in prison reform

Churchill and the Battle of Britain — page 9 — Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine during the early days of their marriage Churchill also backed proposals to curb the power of the House of Lords the unelected upper chamber of Parliament made up of lords who inherit their titles as well as bishops of the Church of England Churchill’s support for this issue did not please many Conservatives They considered Churchill not only to be a traitor to the Conservative Party but also to the class of wealthy landowners into which he had been born Nevertheless Churchill’s rise to a glittering political career seemed set 5 First lord of the Admiralty In 1911 Churchill became first lord of the Admiralty the political head of the Royal Navy as opposed to the professional head of the navy He took charge at

Churchill and the Battle of Britain — page 10 — a time when the supremacy of the Royal Navy was being challenged by steadily increasing German naval power Since the turn of the century the two nations had been engaged in an arms race to build up their navies In 1906 the British had built the Dreadnought a battleship that was faster and armed with bigger guns than any ship previously built In his new post Churchill argued successfully for further spending on the navy and ensured that when war broke out in 1914 the Royal Navy was ready for action Clementine Baroness Spencer-Churchill 1885 1977 Born London United Kingdom Role Wife of Winston Churchill and mother of their five children Diana Randolph Sarah Marigold and Mary6 Winston Churchill first met Clementine Hozier briefly in 1904 but when they met again in 1908 he fell in love They married in the same year and throughout her life Clementine devoted herself to Winston 7 Did you know Winston and Clemmie as he called her wrote to each other every day of their married lives often even if they were in the same house Winston’s pet name for his wife was cat her name for him was pug 8

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