ST HOUR - Winston Churchill

One hundred years ago:Autumn 1897 • Age 23Malakand Field Force....After rushing back to India,Churchill waited impatiently for wordfrom Sir Bindon Blood that the commanderof the Malakand Field Forcewould appoint him to his headquartersstaff. On 22 August he received wordthat there was no room for him, but thathe could join the expedition as a warcorrespondent: "Army Head Qrs makeall appointments except personal staffand are very jealous of their patronage. Ihave hardly managed to get any of mypals on my staff—though I have askedfor several. However if you were here Ithink I could and certainly would if Icould, do a little jobbery on youraccount."From India Churchill wrote a seriesof unsigned telegrams and letters for thePioneer Mail. To identify them, FrederickWoods compiled a schedule ofChurchill's movements during theMalakand campaign. He notes that "thestylistic evidence in their favour is alsotolerably strong." WSC did not, Woodshowever noted, write The Risings on theNorth-West Frontier. But Churchill didwrite The War in the Indian Highlands by aYoung Officer. Personally he wanted tosign them because it would advance hispolitical career. The first of fifteen articleswas published in the Daily Telegraphon 6 October, the last on 6 December.They formed the basis for his first book,The Story of the Malakand Field Force. Hewas paid five pounds per column.Privately he wrote his motherabout his ambitions and experiences. Hewarned her that he had to take risks sothat his behaviour would be noted andget him attached to Blood's staff. "Imean to play this game out and if I loseit is obvious that I never could havewon any other. The unpleasant contingencyis one which could have permanenteffects and would while leavingme life—deprive me of all that makeslife worth living."About conditions, he wrote: "Noice—no soda—intense heat—but still adelightful experience."ACTION THIS DAY BYJOHNG. PLUMFTONSeventy-five years ago:Autumn 1922 • Age 48No seat, no appendix...The Candidate, 1922The Coalition Government of LloydGeorge was coming apart. One criticsaid that it had "produced at the centrean atmosphere more like an orientalcourt at which favourites struggledunceasingly for position than anythingseen in Britain for a century or more."Another commented, "I never heardprinciples or the welfare of the countrymentioned."Tory leadership was severely dividedon whether to continue supportingthe Coalition. Austen Chamberlain andLord Birkenhead were solid supporters;Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwinwere not.Churchill's fellow Harrovian LeoAvery invited all Tory MPs to meet atthe Carlton Club. He was responding tobackbench concerns about their electionprospects. Everyone was specificallywatching the forthcoming by-election inNewport, where a Tory candidate wasrunning against the Coalition.The Tory victory in the by-electionswung the Carlton Club MPs againstthe Coalition. Lloyd George resignedand Bonar Law became Prime Ministerupon his election as Tory leader. Parliamentwas quickly dissolved and a generalelection was called, to be fought onparty lines.Churchill, who would have been inthe middle of all of this, missed much ofit. He was undergoing surgery forappendicitis. Maurice Hankey's diary,as recorded by Martin Gilbert, tells thiswonderful story: "On coming to fromhis anaesthetics Churchill immediatelycried, 'Who has got in for Newport?Give me a newspaper.' The doctor toldhim he could not have it and must keepquiet. Shortly after, the doctor returnedand found Winston unconscious againwith four or five newspapers lying onthe bed."As soon as he could, Churchillwrote his Dundee constituency sayinghe would stand as a Liberal and askedfor their support against the Labour andCommunist candidates, hoping that theConservatives would stay with him. Hewould eventually have to face not onlyConservatives but also an anti-CoalitionAsquith Liberal candidate.Appendicitis was a much moreserious illness than it is today andChurchill had to fight the election fromhis bed in a nursing home. To representhim in his constituency he sent his wife,who took her seven-week old daughterMary with her. The local press, nofriends of the Churchills, maliciouslyreferred to Mary as Clementine's"unbaptised infant."Clementine spoke at six meetingsand gallantly faced hostile crowds, evento the extent of having sneezing powderbreak up one meeting.Four days before the election,Churchill arrived at Dundee's RoyalHotel and prepared to address a friendlycrowd at Caird Hall. Two days laterhe faced a much less friendly group atDrill Hall, which he described as follows:"I was struck by the looks of passionatehatred on the faces of some ofthe younger men and women. Indeed,but for my helpless condition, I am surethey would have attacked me." Clementinehad earlier written her husbandthat he should not be seen with a bodyguard."If you bring Sgt Thompson tellhim to conceal himself, tactfully as itwould not do if the populace thoughtyou were afraid of them."FINEST HOUR 96/32