
Winston Churchill, Parliament Square, London © Sue Lowry & Magellan PR
HAMPSHIRE—I am pleased that this issue is about Churchill’s long association with the British Army. From experience, I know that there is understandable confusion as to the name of the institution where Churchill received his training as an officer and believe it will be helpful to sort this out for readers.
Originally there were two separate institutions for training Army officers: the Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich (for “technical” branches, viz. Artillery, Engineers, and later Signals); and the Royal Military College (RMC) at Sandhurst (largely for Cavalry and Infantry). Churchill attended this second institution in 1893–95.
In 1947 the RMA and RMC were amalgamated (at the former RMC premises) to create The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS). A lot of former RMA “furniture” and other property found its way to RMAS. One such item was the statue of Queen Victoria. She had always stood at Woolwich until 1947 and now seems a long-established resident at RMAS. In fact, she is a relatively new arrival.—Paul H. Courtenay
LONDON—Some overzealous soul tidied away my issue of Finest Hour with the heavenly article from Chartwell by Jock the Cat [FH 178]. I have now recovered the issue and wish to thank you, Jock, for your memories and words.
I have the issue “Churchill at the Movies” [FH 179], and so I am engrossed and happy reading these marvelous issues of Finest Hour.
By the way, when drafting letters for WSC, he would not let us use “delicious” or “grateful,” but he liked “warmest”!!—Lady Williams of Elvel
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