Winston Churchill was a talented man; he had a very interesting early life with his family and education. His careers were short from going to military to a civilian world to the government. He ended his career with a pretty good end until he started getting ill. The British Prime Minister had a very long and eventful life full of adventure. Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born to an aristocrat family on November 30, 1874. As his life unfolded, he displayed the traits on his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, a British statesman from an established English family, and his mother, Jeanette “Jennie” Jerome, and independent New York socialite. As a young child, Churchill grew up in Dublin, Ireland, where his father was employed by his grandfather, The 7th Duke of Marlborough, John Spencer-Churchill. When he entered formal school, Churchill proved to be an independent and strong minded student. He did unwell at his first two schools and in April, 1888, he was sent to Harrow School, a boarding school in London. Within his first days there, he joined the Harrow Rifle Corps, which put him on his path to a military career. (Biography 1)
At the beginning, it did not seem the military was a good option for Churchill. It took him three tries to pass his exam for the British Royal Military College. However, he did rather well and graduated 20th in his class of 130. While in school, his relationship with his parents was distant, though he adored and loved them both. Though Churchill often wrote emotional letters to his mother, begging for her to visit, she seldom came. At the age 21 Churchill’s father died, and it was said that Churchill knew him more by reputation than by any bond they shared. (Biography 1)
Churchill enjoyed a short but eventful career in the British army at a pinnacle of British military power. He joined the Fourth Hussars in 1895 and served in the Indian northwest frontier and the Sudan, where he saw intense action in the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. While enlisted, he wrote military reports for newspapers and two book experiences. In 1899, Churchill left the army and worked as a correspondent for the Morning Post, a conservative daily newspaper. While reporting on the Boer War, he was kidnapped and taken prisoner by the Boers while on a scouting expedition. He made headlines when he escaped, traveling almost 300 miles to Portuguese territory in Mozambique. Upon his return to Britain, he wrote about his hardening experiences in the book London to Ladysmith (1900). (Biography 2-3)
In the early 1900, Churchill became a Member of Parliament in the Conservative Party for Oldham, a town in Manchester. Following his father into modern politics, he also followed his father’s sense of independence, becoming a supporter of social justice reform. Unconvinced that the Conservative Party was devoted to social justice, Churchill switched to the Liberal Party in 1904. He was then elected a Member of Parliament in 1908, and was appointed to the Prime Minister’s cabinet as President of the Board of Trade. The same year, he married Clementine Ogilvy Hozier. As president of the Board of Trade, he joined newly appointed Chancellor Lloyd George in opposing the expansion of the British Navy. Also in 1908, he introduced several reform for the common prison system, introduced the first minimum wage, and helped set up labor exchanges for the unemployed and unemployment insurance. (Colombia 1-2)
In January 1911, Churchill showed his stronger side when he made a controversial visit to a police siege in London. Police had surrounded a house where two robbers had been caught. Churchill’s area of participation is still in some dispute. What is known is that the house caught fire during the siege and Churchill prevented the fire brigade from extinguishing the flames, saying that he thought it better to “let the house burn,” rather than risk lives rescuing the occupants in the house. The bodies of the two robbers were found inside the burned ruins. (Biography 2)
While serving as First Lord of the Admiralty since 1911, Churchill abetted modernize the British Navy, order than new warships are built with new oil fired engines rather than the usual coal fired engines. He was one of the first to promote military aircraft and started and set up the Royal Naval Air Service. He was so enthusiastic about the aviation that he took flying lessons to understand firsthand its military instances. Though not completely involved in the disastrous Battle of Gallipoli, Churchill resigned his own post because he sensed he was responsible for beginning the expedition. For a short time, he rejoined the British Army commanding a battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front and seeing action in “no man’s land.” In 1917, he was appointed Minister of Munitions for the final year of the war, overseeing most vehicle production. (Colombia 2-3)
From 1919 to 1922, Churchill served as Minister of War and Air and Colonial Secretary under Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Then cracks in the Liberal Party led to the defeat of Churchill as a Member of Parliament in 1922, so he then rejoined the Conservative Party and served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. With the downfall of the Conservative government in 1929, Churchill was out of good fortune and out of government. (Tolppanen 5)
After Churchill’s involvement in WWII, he became the Leader of Opposition Party and went on to have an impact on world affairs. In March 1946, while on a visit to the United States, he made his famous “Iron Curtain” speech, cautioning of Soviet domination in Eastern Europe. He also advocated that British remain independent from European coalitions and preserve its independence. After the election of 1951, Churchill reverted to government. (Biography 4)
Churchill had shown signs of delicate health as early as 1941, while visiting the white house. He suffered a minor heart attack and, in 1943, he had a related attack while fighting pneumonia. In 1953, at age 78, he suffered from a sequence of strokes at his office but the news kept from the public and Parliament, with the official announcement affirming that he had suffered from exhaustion. He soon returned to his work as prime minister in October of that year. Churchill finally retired as prime minister in 1955. On January 15, 1965, Churchill suffered a severe stroke that left him gravely ill. He died at his London home nine days later, at age 90, on January 24, 1965. (Colombia 3)
Winston Churchill was a magnificent leader, he led the British in World War 2, and he assisted with the reform government. He may not have had a good relationship with his parents but he was similar to them in ways most could tell. He spent his life leading Britain; if not for Winston, Britain would not be the way it is today. Winston Leonard-Spencer Churchill a man that could say his life was full of adventure and never had a dull moment.
