September 1, 2012

1 & 2 September 2012

Location: Riederalp, Valais, Switzerland

Organised by the British-Swiss Link and supported by British Residents Association of Switzerland

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Patrick Bishop, war historian on military strategy
Minnie Churchill, granddaughter–in-law on paintings
Lord Dobbs, politician and author on politics

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Churchill in the August 1904 edition of “Review of Reviews” Churchill visited Switzerland on several occasions during the periods of 1893-1894 and 1904-1906. Most of his stays were spent at Villa Cassel, Riederfurka, Valais which was owned by King Edward VII’s personal banker, Sir Ernest Cassel. Churchill wrote several letters to his mother while he was there. The first was on August 22, 1904 when he began the book on his father Lord Randolph Churchill and the last on September 1, 1906, when the book was published. He appreciated the peace and quiet and when he was disturbed by the cowbells, Sir Ernest ordered the cowherds to stuff them with straw.

The symposium views the young Churchill and how his early life shaped his future. Possible topics for discussion might include but are not limited to:

A. Relations with his parents. His father wrote to a family member telling her that he believed his son lacked “cleverness, knowledge and any capacity for settled work. He has a great talent for show-off, exaggeration and make-believe.” His mother used his letters as scrap paper and once wrote a list of dinner guests on the back.

B. Military service. Hussars then in action in India, Sudan and South Africa. Special emphasis on Pashtuns then and now. “It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic,” extract from The Malakand Field Force. C. Early years in parliament. MP for Oldham (1900) “I am a child of the House of Commons. I was brought up in my father’s house to believe in democracy,'”He said.

C. Early years in parliament. MP for Oldham (1900) “I am a child of the House of Commons. I was brought up in my father’s house to believe in democracy,'”He said.

D. Sir Ernest Cassel and the Villa Cassel. “Your grandfather was a great man & he made a mark on his generation & on the world that will last long,” Churchill wrote to Lady Mountbatten, Sir Ernest Cassel’s granddaughter. “A large comfortable historical house, complete with baths, a French cook..and every luxury that could be expected in England.”

E. Writer. First books on Malakand, Boer war and Lord Randolph Churchill. “History will judge us kindly, because I shall write the history,” Churchill said to Roosevelt and Stalin

F. Psychoanalysis of Churchill. Dr M.Donald Coleman has written a book Winston Churchill: Character shapes, History IP books. He discusses the kind of rejecting behavior that would cause a small child to write from school, as the young Churchill did, “Please, Mommy, let me at least make you love me.”

G. Churchill and Switzerland. He used his experience of climbing Monte Rosa in a speech delivered in Leeds on 16 May, 1942. It was called “We see the Ridge ahead.”

For more information or to submit a paper, please send a 250 word abstract to Farrol Kahn at [email protected] before June 30, 2012.