1874 - 1965

HISTORICAL TIMELINE

Walk with us, through the life of a legend

Life of Churchill

ChildHOOD

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on St Andrew’s Day, 30 November 1874. On his father’s side, he was a child of the aristocracy; his father was the Conservative politician, Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill. His mother was the American-born beauty, Jennie Jerome, daughter of a New York stockbroker, financier and newspaper proprietor Leonard Jerome.

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Childhood, Overview

1874 - 1892

Randolph and Jennie Churchill

Lord Randolph Churchill married Jennie Jerome on April 15, 1874 at the British Embassy in Paris © Churchill Archives Centre

Lord Randolph and Jennie Jerome Marry

Lord Randolph Churchill and Miss Jennie Jerome met during the racing season in 1873 on the Isle of Wight–one of the significant social events of the British summer season. Lord Randolph fell in love with her at first sight, and in a few months, they were man and wife.’ They had a relatively short courtship and decided to marry when she accepted his proposal not long after having met. They married on the 15th of April 1874.

Winston Churchill was born on 30 November 1874

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on St Andrew’s Day, 30 November 1874.

Mrs Everest Hired

Churchill's beloved nanny Mrs Everest was hired to attend young Winston when he was just a few months old. In 1880, when Winston was five, his younger brother Jack was born. They saw little of their parents during their childhood, and both were devoted to their nanny.

Young Winston Churchill © Churchill Archives, Broadwater Collection

Young Winston is enrolled in St George's School

A few weeks before his eighth birthday, in 1882, Churchill was sent away to boarding school like many other children of his class and background. The school was St George’s, near Ascot, Berkshire. He was unhappy from the start, initially probably no unhappier than many children sent away to school at the time, although ‘floggings’ (beatings) were common.

Churchill began at Harrow School in April 1888

On 17 April 1888, Churchill went to Harrow School, an independent boarding school for boys founded in 1572 under a Royal Charter granted by Elizabeth I, in London. He joined Head Master’s Boarding House, said to date from 1650. Here, he wasn’t particularly happy and he didn’t particularly excel.

Winston Churchill at Harrow School, 1892

Churchill proclaims he will '... save the Empire'

At the age of seventeen, while attending Harrow School, he told his friend Murland Evans that he had dreams about the future: ‘I tell you I shall be in command of the defences of London… In the high position I shall occupy, it will fall to me to save the Capital and save the Empire’.

Young

Young Soldier

The death of Lord Randolph Churchill on 24 January 1895, aged just forty-five, clearly had a profound effect. Churchill became a cavalry officer in the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars only a month later. In the five years between 1895 and 1900, he sought to get himself transferred to as many dangerous places as possible and then writing up his experiences as newspaper articles and books.

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Young Soldier

1893 - 1900

Young Winston Churchill in the uniform of the Queen's Own 4th Hussars

WSC passes out of Sandhurst in December 1894

The death of Lord Randolph Churchill on 24 January 1895, aged just forty-five, and before Churchill had been able to prove himself to his father, clearly had a profound effect. Churchill became a cavalry officer in the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars only a month later but almost from the beginning his mind was set on following his father into politics. To do this he needed fame and fortune.

First visit to US, introduced to Bourke Cockran and observes fighting in Cuba

In November 1895, Churchill was able to get himself posted to Cuba as an observer. Churchill had a period of leave and managed to obtain his first assignment as a war correspondent for the newspaper. It was also in Cuba that he first refined his well-known taste for fine Cuban cigars. He was attached to the Spanish forces as an observer but his writings reveal considerable sympathies for the Cuban rebels.

Second-Lieutenant Winston Churchill in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in India, 1896

Publishes 1st book, The Story of the Malakand Field Force

Winston Churchill published his first of many books on 14 March 1898, 'The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War. The book describes his time on the North West Frontier as part of a military campaign by the British army in what is now western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan.

Escaped a Boer POW Camp in South Africa

Churchill, at age 25, was able to use his fame as a writer to get himself posted to South Africa as a war correspondent. In November, he went on patrol with the British Army aboard a train, and they were ambushed. The Boer's took him prisoner, and on the night of 12/13 December, he jumped the fence as the guards had turned their backs.

Winston S Churchill as a young politician

Winston Churchill as a young politician © National Portrait Gallery, London

Elected Conservative Member for Oldham

Churchill's was first elected to the constituency of Oldham on Monday, 1 October 1900 (for which he sat in 1900-06). The electorate favoured the Conservative policy of Protectionism, which advocated duties on cheap foreign textiles. In a parliamentary career spanning sixty-four years, Churchill represented five constituencies and served under thirteen Prime Ministers.

Begins first lecture tour of North America

Churchill went on his first lecture tour of North America, from 8 December 1900 through 2 February 1901. On 10 December, he met then US President Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt.

Rising

Rising Politician

Churchill won his first election to Parliament as a Conservative (Tory) for the town of Oldham in 1900. He quickly made a name for himself as a rising politician, though he was controversial, and in 1904 he left his father's party and joined the Liberals. Early in his career, he held a succession of senior Government roles, and in 1924, he returned to the Conservative Party as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was talented, but many mistrusted him.

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Rising Politician

1901 - 1932

Gives his Maiden Speech in the House

On Sunday, 10 February 1901, Winston Churchill returned from a lecture tour of Britain, the United States and Canada. His heroic escape from the Boer POW camp in South Africa in 1899 had propelled him to worldwide fame. Upon his return to London, he gave his maiden speech in the House of Commons.

Young Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill as a young politician, 30 May 1899 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Named Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies

In December 1905, Henry Campbell-Bannerman took office as Prime Minister when the Liberals were invited to form a government. Churchill became Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. Lord Elgin held the post of Colonial Secretary with responsibility for directing all colonial affairs worldwide.

Winston and Clementine Marry

Churchill could be very charming, but he also was known to be quite difficult at times. He had such a presence and reputation that there were very few men who would stand up to him. There was, however, one very strong willed woman who always would – his wife.

Appointed First Lord of the Admiralty

The ministerial post of First Lord of the Admiralty is the civilian head of the British Royal Navy. Churchill was appointed to the coveted post on Wednesday, 25 October 1911, and, like most things he did, he took it up with great gusto. Churchill adored Navy life aboard the Admiralty yacht Enchantress. After taking up office, he set out to visit every capital ship and every Royal Navy base in the British Isles.

Winston Churchill, 1st Lord of the Admiralty

1912 Winston Churchill, 1st Lord of the Admiralty on board the 'Enchantress', cruising in the Mediterranean, Contributor: Fremantle / Alamy.com HGF9BP

Franco-British naval attack on Dardanelles fails

Winston had a great many setbacks in his lifetime. The failure of the attack on the Dardanelles during the Gallipoli Campaign, however, was one of the most devastating. Though the Dardanelles Commission later exonerated him of most of the blame for the military failure, he was the most vocal champion of the strategic move to cut off the Turkish support of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War.

Churchill’s painting of the black swans of Chartwell

Begins Oil Painting at Hoe Farm, Surrey

In May 1915, after the disastrous Gallipoli campaign, Churchill was forced to resign his office of First Lord of the Admiralty. This event was a devastating blow to him, both personally and politically. During this period, Churchill found himself in a great depression. He decided to take up painting as a hobby to help with his depression. Today, this is what's known as 'art therapy'.

David Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister

Churchill crossed the floor to switch parties (for the first time) from the Tory to the Liberal Party in 1904. He’d decided to ally himself with David Lloyd George, who encouraged him to make the switch. Lloyd George became Prime Minister of a wartime collation in 1916 and was instrumental in helping Churchill rehabilitate his political image after the disaster of the Gallipoli campaign.

David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill in 1910

David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill in 1910

Appointed Minister of Munitions

Churchill’s old friend, mentor, and sometime rival, David Lloyd George, became Prime Minister in December 1916. Believing that the anti-Churchill sentiment after the Dardanelles disaster could be overcome, Lloyd George controversially brought Churchill back into government as Minister of Munitions.

Winston Churchill Meets Franklin Roosevelt

In July 1918, in his capacity as Assistant Secretary of the US Navy, Franklin Roosevelt visited Great Britain. He was greeted in Portsmouth and then driven by car to London, where he was billeted at the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly. Roosevelt attended a dinner at Gray’s Inn in London, where he first met Winston Churchill. He was thoroughly unimpressed.

Winston Churchill and Sir William Robert Robertson

Winston Churchill and Sir William Robert Robertson in August 1919. © National Portrait Gallery, London

Successfully Offers to Buy Chartwell

In 1922, Churchill purchased what was to become his respite from the world, Chartwell, his beloved country home in the Kent countryside. Just an hour from London, he said of it once that, ‘A day away from Chartwell is a day wasted’. He spent £5,000 to purchase Chartwell and a further £15,000 in refurbishment costs.

Winston and Clementine's country home Chartwell

Winston and Clementine's country home Chartwell in Kent

Appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer

Churchill stood for election in 1924 as a ‘Constitutionalist’ rather than Liberal or Unionist and won a seat representing the constituency of Epping. He then accepted appointment in Stanley Baldwin’s Unionist government as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Officially rejoins Conservative Party

Churchill left the conservatives in 1904 for the Liberal Party after having been a Member of Parliament for four years. In 1925, after more than twenty years with the Liberals, he formally rejoined the Conservative Party, apparently noting later that ‘… anyone can rat, but it takes a certain amount of ingenuity to re-rat’.

Wilderness

Wilderness Years

By the early 1930s, Churchill no longer had a Government position. He continued to write books and newspaper articles, but many, including him, thought his political career was over. He spoke out about his opposition to Hitler’s new Nazi dictatorship in Germany and made calls for British rearmament. After the Munich Crisis of 1938, there was a growing consensus that he was right. When war finally broke out in September 1939, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had no choice but to make him First Lord of the Admiralty.

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Wilderness Years

1933 - 1939

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill with his trademark cigar in the 1930s

Adolf Hitler elected German Chancellor

Adolf Hitler was appointed German Chancellor on Friday, 30 January 1933, by President Paul von Hindenburg. The National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi Party) has seen a meteoric rise in popularity in several previous elections, principally due to the economic and political failure of the Weimar Republic.

First speech on the need to rebuild Britain’s air defences

In November 1932, Churchill visited Munich and saw for himself the brown-shirted Nazis marching through the streets. Churchill began to speak out in the House and write articles in the press about the potential dangers of a rearmed Germany and the vital need to rebuild Britain’s air defences. ‘The House was enraged in an ugly mood towards Mr Churchill’, declared the Daily Despatch. He was called a warmonger for speaking out. This anti-Churchill sentiment continued through the 1930s.

Churchill joins Committee of Imperial Defence

During his ‘wilderness years’ of the 1930s, Churchill had many detractors on both sides of the House. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin invited Churchill to join the Committee for Imperial Defence. He and Churchill exchanged several letters setting the terms such that Churchill would be free to argue his position on the state of Britain’s air defences.

Winston Churchill, 1939

Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, at a meeting of the Admiralty, 1939. Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo/Alamy.com

Appointed First Lord of the Admiralty

The period of Churchill’s exile, during the ’wilderness years’ ended when it became clear that he was correct about German rearmament and Hitler’s plans for expansion. The Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. On the day that the British declared war, Churchill was brought back into government. This would be the second time of his appointment to the office of First Lord of the Admiralty.

War

War Leader

Churchill became Prime Minister on 10 May 1940, the very day that Hitler invaded France and the Low Countries. The first weeks of his premiership were marked by military disaster, as France surrendered and the British army was evacuated from Dunkirk. Churchill carefully crafted his famous speeches to raise British morale while sending a message of defiance to Germany. Churchill's policy was 'victory at all costs' through 'blood, toil, tears and sweat'. He came to personify the British spirit with his ever-present cigar and V for Victory salute.

Discover his war years
War Leader

1940 - 1945

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill giving a speech during the Second World War

Churchill becomes Prime Minister and Minister of Defence

Though his reputation was still not yet fully rehabilitated, a confluence of events led King George VI to invite Churchill to form a government in May 1940. On 13 May, Churchill gave the first of many of his great wartime speeches. He told the House of Commons, ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat’.

Convinces Cabinet to fight on, Belgium surrenders

The situation was dire. British and French forces were pinned down on the coast of France as the evacuation of more than 300,000 troops to Britain was underway. Foreign Minister Lord Halifax and others wanted to negotiate with Herr Hitler, but Churchill was defiant, saying, ‘Nations that went down fighting rose again, but those which surrendered tamely were finished’.

Gives his ‘Finest Hour’ speech

Churchill gave many speeches for which he became famous, but his ‘Finest Hour’ speech stands alone. Churchill concluded his speech with his now celebrated final point, ‘Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years men will still say, “This was their finest hour”’.

The 'Big Three' at the Tehran Conference, 1943. Marshal Josef Stalin, President Franklin D Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. ©IWM A 20711

Visits Normandy beachheads

On D-Day+6, Churchill sailed across the Channel to the coast of France aboard the HMS Kelvin and visited the beaches at Normandy, surveying the destruction. General Sir Bernard Montgomery met him, and they later lunched together at Montgomery’s headquarters just three miles from the front.

Makes ‘percentages’ agreement on spheres of influence

Churchill took many controversial actions during his lifetime, but this was one to top the list. Meeting with Russian ally Joseph Stalin at a conference in Moscow, and purposely excluding Roosevelt’s representative from the discussion, they agreed to carve up Eastern Europe by percentages of influence.

Resigns as Prime Minister

The war in Europe ended with Victory in Europe (VE) Day on 8 May 1945, and the western world erupted in jubilation. The British public was elated but very weary of war. Churchill easily won his seat in Parliament for Woodford, but the Conservatives were thrown out of office. He would resign the office of Prime Minister to make way for Clement Attlee and the Labour Party.

Senior

Senior Statesman

Churchill’s world seemed to have ended with WWII. The British Empire was lost, Britain was bankrupt, and his Conservative Party was voted out of office. Once again, he refused to accept defeat, re-launching himself on the international stage with a powerful warning about the Soviet ‘Iron Curtain’. He returned as a peacetime Prime Minister in 1951, participating in the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Poor health finally forced his retirement in 1955 though he remained a Member of Parliament until June 1964.

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Senior Statesman

1946 - 1965

‘Iron Curtain’ speech at Fulton, Missouri

One of the most important speeches Churchill would give in his career was his ‘Sinews of Peace’, otherwise known as his ‘Iron Curtain’ speech. As in the past, Churchill was prescient at this time in describing the aggressive ambitions of the Soviet Union. Given at Westminster College in Missouri just a year after the end of the Second World War, this speech would set the stage for the next forty five years of the ‘Cold War’.

Publishes The Gathering Storm

Though Winston Churchill was an aristocrat and a grandson of the Duke of Marlborough, he was constantly short of funds. This was until he published his war memoirs, beginning with The Gathering Storm, which was the first of his six-volume work, The Second World War. Finally, with the advance from the publishing house Cassell, he and his family would be on sound financial ground.

Winston Churchill

In Memoriam

Sir Martin Gilbert, in the final volume of his epic biography Winston S Churchill, said, ‘Men and women wept when they heard the news of Churchill’s death. Nearly ten years had passed since his last months as Prime Minister, a quarter of a century since his “finest hour” in 1940. He had died seventy years to the day after his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, the man whose respect and approval he would have so liked to have won, but who had not lived long enough to see even the earliest phases of his son’s remarkable career.’

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In Memoriam

1965

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Churchill funeral

Winston Churchill's funeral procession, 30 January 1965

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1874 - 1965

Winston Churchill

In Memorandum

Churchill became Prime Minister of a national government on 10 May 1940, the very day that Hitler invaded France and the Low Countries. The first few weeks of his premiership were marked by military disaster, as France surrendered and the British army was evacuated from Dunkirk. The United Kingdom then faced direct attack in the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.

Churchill’s famous speeches and broadcasts were carefully constructed to raise British morale while sending a message of defiance to Germany and a call for support to the United States. Churchill’s policy was ‘victory at all costs’ through ‘blood, toil, tears and sweat’. Though sixty-five in 1940, he strove to take the offensive to the enemy and worked tirelessly to assemble and maintain the Grand Alliance against fascism. With his bulldog scowl, ever-present cigar and V for Victory salute he came to personify the British war effort.

To learn about the Second World War, visit the Imperial War Museums’ website.

Finest Hour

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The Second World War

Writing, Articles & Books

In his lifetime, Churchill published more than 40 books in 60 volumes.

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Churchill as a young man

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Publications

In his lifetime, Churchill published more than 40 books in 60 volumes.

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