CHURCHILL; Winston Leonard Spen cer, English statesman, soldier and author: b. 30 Nov. 1874, the elder son of the late Lord Randolph Churchill (3d son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough) and Jennie, daughter of Leonard Jerome, banker, of New York He was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst Mili tary College, joined the 4th Hussars in 1895, and in the same year (while on leave) he saw his first active service— with the Spaniards in Cuba. With the 31st Punjab Infantry he ac companied the Malakand Field Force on the Northwest Frontier of India in 1897, and in 1898 served with the Tirah Expeditionary Force under General Lockhart. When Kitchener started on the reconquest of the Egyptian Sudan in 1898, Churchill immediately joined the 21st Lancers and took part in the battle of Omdurman (Khartum). By the time he was 24 he had already been
in dis patches') and earned four military decorations. In 1899 he turned to politics and contested the Oldham division as a conservative. He failed, however, and when the Boer War (1899-1902) broke out he was appointed lieutenant in the South African Light Horse, at the same time acting as war correspondent for the London Morning Post. On 15 Nov. 1899, during the Natal campaign, he was riding in an armored train with some Dublin Fusiliers and Durban Light Infantry, when they ran into an ambush and part of the train was derailed. Churchill led a little party of volunteers to clear the line in front of the engine, which they succeeded in disentangling from the wreckage. Being still on the rails, it was sent on with its cab' full of wounded, shells and bullets playing furiously around them. Churchill got away with the engine, but returned to share the fate of his comrades. All the survivors were captured by the Boers and taken to Pretoria, whence Churchill and Captain Haldane escaped a month later, the former afterward taking part in some 20 battles and engagements. He returned to England in 1900, again contested Oldham in the
election, and this time successfully. He held the seat till the resignation of the Balfour Ministry in December 1905, when he turned over to the Liberal party, which then came into power with an overwhelming majority. The main ground for Churchill's defection was his uncompromising opposition to the Tariff Reform movement inaugurated by Chamberlain in 1903. Elected for Northwest Manchester, Churchill entered the Campbell-Bannerman ministry as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. During his first six years in Parlia ment he had frequently distinguished himself as a skilful debater and a brilliant—if some what reckless and impetuous—orator. In 1908 he was raised to Cabinet rank as President of the Board of Trade, a change which necessi tated an appeal to his constituency. To the general surprise he was defeated, and had to seek election elsewhere. He was then elected for Dundee, which he still represents (1918). In 1910 he became Home Secretary, the most powerful official in England. During his 21 months' tenure at the Home Office Mr. Church ill frequently encountered adverse criticism levelled against his rather novel procedure in criminal affairs. He not only freely exercised the prerogative of his office in reducing sen tences and issuing pardons, but endeavored to ameliorate the rigor of prison life by permit ting occasional concerts and lectures to be held in penal. establishments. The notorious '
personal supervision of the Home Secretary, led to a series of attacks in the press and Parliament upon Mr. Churchill for alleged in terference. He proved, however, that he had not sent for the troops nor exceeded his authority. In October 1911 Mr. Churchill suc ceeded Mr. McKenna as First Lord of the Admiralty, in which capacity he was destined to play an important part in the Great War. He kept the fleet in a high stage of efficiency notwithstanding the repeated offers to Germany for a °naval holiday,'' and was able to assemble, in July 1914, a formidable armada of 200 fight ing ships, drawn up in eight lines, extending over 22 miles, and manned by 70,000 men. The occasion of this gathering was the annual royal review off Spithead, which in that year proved of unforeseen value, due to the wise foresight of Mr. Churchill and the then First Sea Lord, Prince Louis of Battenberg. The review ended on 20 July, three days before the Austrian ulti matum was launched. In normal times the vessels would have been dispersed to their respective stations and the reserves called out for the occasion would have been sent home. It has since become known that Mr. Churchill, entirely on his own responsibility, kept the fighting units together and at the critical mo ment Great Britain's naval strength stood con centrated in the North Sea, ready for action, After four years' absence from the Adiniralty, Lord Fisher, the creator of the dreadnaught, returned as First Sea Lord early in the war. When the Belgians were thrown back on Ant werp and the fall of the city seemed imminent, Mr. Churchill arrived on the scene (4 Oct. 1914) with 2,000 Royal Marines, followed next day by 6,000 more, in a desperate effort to save the city. Antwerp fell on the 10th, and Mr. Churchill did not escape criticism in conse quence, though his justifiable attempt delayed the fall bf the city for a few days. In May 1915 a Cabinet crisis arose through a quarrel between Mr. Churchill and Lord Fisher over the Dardanelles campaign. The first phase of the operations in that theatre had ended in disaster on 18 March. Lord Fisher resigned; Mr. Asquith reconstructed his Cabinet and Mr. Balfour succeeded. Mr. Churchill as First Lord, the latter accepting the undistinguished office of chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. Lord Fisher refused to reconsider his resignation unless Mr. Churchill were eliminated, and as that condition was not fulfilled, he disappeared. On 11 Nov. 1915 Mr. Churchill resigned his office and on the 15th he reviewed in Parlia ment the share he had taken in the matter of Coronel, Antwerp and the Dardanelles, assert ing that Lord Fisher had never expressed dis approval at the War Council. Two days later Mr. Churchill left for the front with the rank of major in the Grenadier Guards. In Decem ber 1916, on the accession of Mr. Lloyd George to the premiership, Mr. Churchill succeeded him as Minister of Munitions. The Report of the Dardanelles Commission (March 1917) re vealed that he originally tonceived the idea of the campaign as a means of defending Egypt. Among his numerous literary activities the chief are 'Lord Randolph Churchill) (2 vols., 1905); 'The River War' (the Sudan campaign, 1899); 'The Story of the Malakand Field
(1898); 'London to Ladysmith via Pretoria' (1900); 'Ian Hamilton's March' (1900); 'Savrola' (a novel, 1900). See WAR, EURO