Journal of the International Churchill Society - Winston Churchill

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Churchill in Stamps BY RICHARD M. LANGWORTH PAGES 25-30: WINSTON TO INDIA This six-page segment of philatelic adventures is built entirely around Churchill's travel to India at the height of the British Raj (and you need to read many books to understand it; "The Jewel in the Crown," good as it was, remains superficial). The lack of actual Churchill commemoratives referencing this period again requires the philatelic biographer to rely, with only one exception, on CR (Churchill-Related) stamps. 25. This page is unfinished, but since this series may later be reprinted I include it for continuity. Incidentally, there is a mistake in the text: the typical Indian tour of duty was nine, not five years. Egypt #46-60 (sg ?) are the stamps Winston probably bought for his brother Jack at Port Said. The key value missing is Egypt #536 (sg ?) showing Suez. 26. Ideal to illustrate almost any page concerning WSC/India are the fine Victoria definitives in use when he arrived (in use 1895-1900: #36-46 & #50-52, sg 84-94 & 107-9). As you can see, I've yet to find #43 and have rough examples of some others. Places mentioned by WSC to look for on postmarks include Bangalore, Guntakal, Hyderabad, Poona and Wadi. 27. The map comes from an old atlas and shows British India and the independent Princely States. High-value definitives were used, but lacking #50 I substituted temporarily #447 (sg 502), a Taj Mahal design. Another view of the "Taj" is on India #220, issued in 1949. It is remarkable how little of the sub-continent Britain administered directly. Bangalore, where WSC was stationed, is in the south near Mysore State. 28. Churchill's fascination with butterflies stemmed from his acquaintance with them in India. Three he mentioned collecting may be found on stamps: swallowtail, purple emperor and white admiral, Poland #1543/46 and Romania #1620. His India garden contained roses including "La France," "Gloire de Dyon" and "Marechal Nel," but these varieties have disappeared. We rely on GB #786-89 (sg 1006-09) for representatives. 29. Polo, Churchill's favorite sport, is the subject here, with Khor Fakkan Minkus #68 the only Churchill issue in these six pages. Others are Brazil #891 (India has not to my knowledge issued a stamp for her national sport), Laos #79 (tying in WSC's lovelorn elephant rides through Hyderabad on a howdah with Pamela Plowden), Pakistan #70/72 (for general views of the countryside), one of the first three Cochin stamps (WSC visited), and any of the Hyderabad #4-12 (sg 4-12) early definitives (WSC played polo with the Nizam). 30.1 am reasonably confident that there's a lot more research to be done on the books Churchill read to educate himself in India, and the stamps available to illustrate those books. (Can any reader provide his complete reading list?) I have found stamps to represent his known reading of Plato on Aristotle (Greece #RA91), On Pessimism by Shoepenhauer (Danzig #222/4), Darwin's Origin of Species (GB's Darwin commemoratives, also Germany/DDR #388-89) and Socrates (Dominica #243, sg 247). The recent New Zealand 24^ definitive came on an envelope, and reminded me that WSC had once passed an examination on the strength of his phenomenal memory. The night before, he put the names of countries into a hat, drew out "New Zealand" and memorized its shape. The next day the exam asked, "Draw a map of New Zealand." He must have seemed a wizard! A continuing series 25 26 TO IMDIA MLUCTANTLY Churchill did not want to go to India, which was at peace, but to the scene of action—yet action did not obtain. He made brazen use of his contacts to avoid the fire-year Indian tour of duty, but on 11 September 1696 he found himself enroute with the rest of the Fourth Hussars. Crossing the Bay of Biscay, sailing into the Mediterranean, WSC glimpsed Lisbon, later Malta. On 20 September the ship touched at Port Said. WSC vent ashore, to buy cigarettes to send his mother, and stamps for his brother Jack. The voyage then took Churchill through the Sues Canal, completed only five years before he was born. Suet impressed him, and he wrote about it at length. INDIAN ARRIVAL Twenty days out of England, the Fourth Hussars arrived in Bombay Harbor. Reaching for a docfcslde hand-ring from the dinghy taking him ashore, Churchill wrenched his shoulder, an injury which was to plaque him all his life and cause him to play polo with his upper right arm strapped to his chest. But the disability caused him to forsake rifle for pistol at Omdurman In 1896—luckily. The Hussars rested at Poona, then marched via Wadi and Guntakal to Bangalore, where they would be stationed, as was then Army custom, for the next nine years. Low value Indian definitive s tamps in use during Churchill's arrival. Higher values overleaf. Postmarked at Poona, where WSC often played polo.
IOUTH TOUIH BRITISH INDIA, 1895 Contrary to common belief, the Queen-Empress did not reiign over all India. Britain administered about half the territoriies and lert various "Princely States" to hereditary rulers. POLO AND AN SAJILT LOTS Churchill's Regiment was the first to win a first-class polo tournament against native teams within two years of arriving in India, at Secunderabad — they did It by purchasing the entire stud of the Poona Light Horse, It is curious that India has yet to issue a stamp honoring the game she exported worldwide—In which WSC indulged into his 50s. 27 ,,,„„ JHSHMI S BRITISH INDIA 1 as' 29 *rom Secunderabad Churchill visited nearby Hyderabad, and fell deeply in love with Miss Piimela Plowden, daughter of the British Resident. In a howdah, they toured the city and WSC showed Pamela some of the countryside. She was, he wrote, "Quite the most beautiful girl I have ever seen." Marriage did not result^ though they remained lifelong frlendi. Poil«lioni u 5I0U Of Prni or.tal * WSC Ti»lt«4 Cochin, played polo *lth the •Ham of li!and> TOUTH YOUTH 28 A SUBILTBIN'S LIFE The modest allowance for subalterns allowed Churchill and two brother officers to maintain a palatial bungalow and stables for 30 horses. Each hired a butler, two valets and a syce (groom) for each horse. Together they hired two gardeners, three bhlstis (water carriers), four dhobies (washermen) and a watchman! WSC retained his boyhood love of butterflies. He mentioned collecting Swallowtails, Purple Bmperors and White Admirals... He waxed enthusiastic about the bungalow rose garden and mentions growing "La france , Glolre de gljon" and Marechal ?lel", all having since disappeared "lth the years. All were hybrid *ea roses, as those at right. SELF-EDUCATION IN INDIA With time on his hands., Churchill began to ask questions of himself. What were Ethics? Who was Socrates? What was the "Socratlc Method"? What about Philosophy, Religion, Economics? All of the subjects he had refused to study In school, and which had not been offered at Sandhurst, now began to plague him. He' wrote his mother for books, deciding to become his own University. Between September I896 and April 1897, wsc read Gibbon's DECLINE AND PALL OP THE ROMAN EMPIRE, Macauley's HISTORY OF ENGLAND, Plato's REPUBLIC and 30 E POLITICS . -. - OF ARISTOTLE, Schopenhauer's ON PESSIMISM, Malthus' ESSAY ON POPULATION, Darwin'3 ORIGIN OF SPECIES, Reade's MARTYRDOM OF MAN and other works including Lalng and Rochefort. He had a phenomenal memory. Once before a school exam, he memorized the map of New Zealand, on a chance. It was the map asked for on the exam; he knew it exactly.
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Page 3 and 4: IMMORTAL WORDS: TEN WEEKS OF WAR I
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Page 19: Woods Corner Ronald I. Cohen, Edito
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