About Winston Churchill

 

Laurel King, Contributor

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about winston churchillThere are numerous facts about Winston Churchill, which provide a brief overview of one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century.

Born: November 30, 1874 (two months premature)

Full name: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill

Nickname: Winnie

Father: Lord Randolph Churchill (English)

Mother: Lady Randolph Churchill (American), formerly Jennie Jerome

Birthplace: Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, England, UK

Education:

Attended St. George's School (Ascot, Berkshire); Brunswick School (Hove, near Brighton); and Harrow School (London)

Marriage: September 12, 1908 St. Margaret's, Westminster

Wife: Clementine Hozier (met in 1904, engaged in August 1908)

Children:

Diana (1909), Randolph (1911), Sarah (1914), Marigold (1918), and Mary (1922); Marigold died of septicemia in 1921.

Family home: Chartwell (purchased September 1922). Two miles south of Westerham, Kent, England.

Military career:

Student at Harrow School (military boarding school, 1888-1893); Student at Royal Military College, Sandhurst (cavalry, 1893-94); commissioned as Second Lieutenant in 4th Queen's Own Hussars (1895); sent to Cuba (1895); transferred to Bombay, British India (October 1896); fought in Malkaland (1897); transferred to Egypt (served in the Sudan, 1898); war correspondent in South Africa, captured and escaped from prisoner of war camp (1899); retired from regular army (1900); joined Imperial Yeomanry (1902); promoted to Major, appointed commander of Henley Squadron of the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars (1905); transferred to territorial reserves of officers (1916); retired at the age of fifty (1924).

Political positions:

Elected as Member of Parliament (1900); Colonial Under-Secretary (1905-08); President of Board of Trade (1908-10); Home Secretary (1910-11); First Lord of the Admiralty (1st time, 1911-15); Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (May – November 1915); Minister of Munitions (1917-19); Secretary of State for Air & War (1919-21); Colonial Secretary (1921-22); Chancellor of the Exchequer (1924-29); First Lord of the Admiralty (2nd time, 1939-40); Prime Minister and Minister of Defence (1940-45); Prime Minister (1945); Leader of the Opposition (1945-51); Prime Minister (2nd time, 1951-55); and finished out his career as a Member of Parliament from 1955-64, when he retired.

Nobel Prize for Literature:

Awarded 1953, for his six-volume written work, The Second World War (1948-53) and his oratory skill in 'defending human values'

Written works: 43 books, in 72 volumes. Published from 1898 through 1987.

Hobbies: painting, writing, reading, bricklaying, animals (farm and domestic)

Died: January 24, 1965 (90 years old), London, England, UK