MARCH 2012 C H A R T W E L L B R A N C H T C C ( U K ) ISSUE 16

THE NEWSPresident - Mr Randolph Churchill

A REGULAR NEWSLETTER

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UPDATES TO THOSE INTERESTED

IN ALL THINGS ‘CHURCHILL’

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Email: chartwelltccuk@virginmedia.com

Great Attendance!

In this issue

Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ SpeechChurchill Centre Membership

Winston and MoneyTrip to the Churchill Archives?

AGM

50 members and friends enjoyed a sunny day at Chartwell, and a superb presentation.

A big thank you to Allen Packwood for making our February meeting one to remember, and also a huge thank you to everyone attending.

“When I stand here this quiet afternoon I shudder to visualize what is actually happening to millions now and what is going to happen in this period when famine stalks the earth. None can compute what has been called "the unestimated sum of human pain". Our supreme task and duty is to guard the homes of the common people from the horrors and miseries of another war. We are all agreed on that.”

This is part of the speech given by Winston Churchill on 5 march 1946, at Westminster College in Fulton , Missouri.

This speech became known as the ‘Iron Curtain’ speech and attracted more than a little controversy with prominent people disowning it, despite in some cases, having had prior knowledge of what he was going to say.

As in so many instances, the great man was able to take a view of the future that was uncannily accurate, but not entirely what people wanted to hear.

Why should I be raising this topic now? Well by the time this ‘NEWS’ reaches you it will be close to the anniversary of the speech, and also to let you know that a new book will be published in the UK in May which promises to give an important insight to the event.

It is also interesting to discover where the term ‘Iron Curtain’ originated.

It is perhaps shrouded in some mystery but it appears the term first appeared in relation to Russia in a book by Ethel Snowden published in 1920.(1) ‘Through Bolshevik Russia’

She was in fact the wife of Philip Snowden. the first Labour Chancellor of The Exchequer in 1924, and the man who succeeded WSC as Chancellor in 1929.

Surprisingly it was also used by Joseph Goebbels the German Minister of Propaganda, who referred to it in his weekly newspaper Das Reich.(2)

Surely the opening lines of this item show WSC was not the ‘warmonger’ he was accused of being.

The ‘Sinews of Peace’ Speech

(2) “If the German people lay down their weapons, the Soviets, according to the agreement between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, would occupy all of East and Southeast Europe along with the greater part of the Reich. An iron curtain would fall over this enormous territory controlled by the Soviet Union, behind which nations would be slaughtered.”

(1) “welcome from the Trade Union officials who were to be our hosts during our stay.We are behind the “iron curtain” at last!

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BENEFITS OF INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHURCHILL CENTRE

Latest Issue Now Available!

Finest Hour 153: Winter 2011-12

Join The Churchill Centre today and receive our quarterly publication Finest Hour

"The Journal of Winston Churchill"In This Issue

Cover: “Winston at Work”: Oil painting by Edwina Sandys

Churchillnomics: Gold, Currency and Finance, Then and Now

• Why did Churchill return Britain to the Gold Standard? Ryan Brown explains why Churchill’s choice was “the burden of statesmanship”—and taken in the hope that it would help maintain peace.

• Churchill Quotations: the Gold Standard and his surprising 1918 proposal to nationalize the railways.

• Are we all Keynesians now?: H.W. Arndt shows that Churchill and Keynes agreed more than they disagreed—and not all their ideas were off the wall.

• “The Truth about War Debts” (1934). Churchill describes the World War I debt carousel that benefitted nobody, and helped push the world toward WW2.

• Churchill for Today: Overvalued Yuan? Or Currency Sterilization?” Ryan Brown shows how Churchill’s experience bears on the West’s currency problems.

This and much more including, Churchilliana and recent Book Reviews.

Your Membership Includes:

• Four issues of Finest Hour, "The Journal of Winston Churchill"• The monthly Chartwell Bulletin containing all Centre news and events• Invitations to local and national events and the annual International Churchill Conference• Member discounts when buying books from The Churchill Centre Book Club• Free shipping (to the US and Canada) on all purchases from Churchill Shop• Premium content, such as audio of WSC speeches, available on our website for members

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A Note on Winston and MoneyUntil he became a Sandhurst cadet in 1893 WSC had no money of his own – he then received a monthly allowance of £10 from his father. The cavalry regiment he joined (4th Hussars) was posted to India in 1896 and by then he was paid £255 a year plus £3 a month to keep two horses; and a lodging allowance (officers lived in private bungalows). Each month he received “a string bag as big as a turnip filled with silver rupees” which he handed to his Indian butler who, along with a dressing boy to look after his clothes and a groom for the horses, saw to all his domestic needs. However, cavalry officers needed a private income of £600 a year or more-in India polo accounted for a good deal- and he had inherited no estate on his father’s death. Although he also received £500 a year from his mother he was already in debt.

He overdrew his account in 1897 and led his widowed mother to reproach him saying “I give you the biggest allowance I possibly can, more than I can afford, I am very hard up.” (Lord and Lady Randolph had run through a great amount of money.)  

In 1897 he wrote his first book-about an Indian military campaign in which he took part- “The Story of The Malakand Field Force”. In 1898 8,500 copies at 14s were published. How many sold and how much money he made is not recorded but the important thing was he became very well-known, and received invitations to write articles for magazines-which he did. In April 1898 he wrote “this literary sphere may enable me in a few years to supplement my income…and becoming sooner or later independent”. A crucial step soon followed. In the summer of 1898, after much intriguing by influential friends, he obtained a transfer from India to the army in Egypt in order to see active service in the Sudan Campaign against the Dervish power. He took

with him an agreement to write a series of letters to the Morning Post newspaper for 15s a column which, he records, brought him £300. More importantly, his participation in the campaign provided the material for his second and very successful book “The River War”.. 

Disagreements between him and his mother about money recurred in 1898: she had fallen heavily into debt and wished him to pay £700 a year in premiums on life insurance policies to secure a loan of £17,000. He himself still had debts- his tailor’s bills for his first uniforms had not been paid! He writes to her “we are both…spendthrift and extravagant …you spend £200 on a ball dress…I purchase a new polo pony for £100. The pinch of the matter is we are damned poor”. He reluctantly agreed to pay the premiums but wrote to his mother “In 3 years since my father’s death you have spent a quarter of our entire fortune…my extravagances are a small matter beside yours.” Toward the end of 1898 he finished his novel “Savrola” and accepted £100 from a magazine for the serial rights. 

Early in1899, while writing “The River War”, he left the army having realised that even a successful military career was no way to pay off his debts and finance the parliamentary career he was already contemplating when he joined.( Members of Parliament were not paid until 1911/12 and then only £400 a year.) His books, articles and war reports “had already brought in about five times as much as the Queen had paid me for three years…” Confident in his new book he wrote “I can live cheaper and earn more as a writer, special correspondent and journalist.” He also wished to end his dependence on his mother’s allowance. “My father and mother…had never been at all rich” and debts had absorbed much of his father’s estate. 

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By September 1899, after many years of colonial discord, war in South Africa had become inevitable. Churchill, now a civilian, approached the Morning Post that had earlier employed him and was appointed principal war-correspondent at £250 a month for 4 months and £200 a month thereafter, all expenses paid. He sailed to South Africa in October having paid £3 15s 6d for repairing his telescope and field glasses; a compass; and £16 for wine, spirits and Rose’s lime juice. While at sea “The River War” was published to critical acclaim: 3000 copies at 36s sold out and many reprints followed. However, he couldn’t read the reviews because within 15 days of arriving in South Africa, having started sending reports to his paper, he was a prisoner of war. After escaping and resuming his war reporting his experiences provided material for two more books: “London to Ladysmith”, for which he received £2,000 advance royalties, sold 14,000 copies; and “Ian Hamilton’s March” which sold 8,000.  

His reports of the war and the books had “left me in possession of £4,000” but he had not exhausted financial benefits from his experiences. (That was just as well because his

mother, who had helped him financially, married again to Scots Guards Lieutenant Cornwallis-West. Her finances became “entangled with her husband’s” who had great expectations but little income- and left the army.) 

On 1 October 1900 Churchill was elected to one of the two parliamentary seats for Oldham. Invitations to lecture on the war and his experiences followed, including from America. Twenty nine lectures were arranged in England during November when: “I banked safely £4,500”. The American/Canadian lecture tour was not a success-there was not the interest he had been told to expect; there was also some sympathy for the Boers and his tour organiser very grasping. Churchill’s earnings from an exhausting tour were £1,600. By February 1901“I had in my possession nearly £10, 000” which he passed to the financier Sir Ernest Cassel to manage for him. He now had both his seat in Parliament and the money he needed. He was 26.

A Note on Winston and Money cont.......

Raymond Philo

Many thanks Ray for this very interesting contribution which is much appreciated.

If you have something to contribute please send it via email.

If you are celebrating....Happy St David’s Day

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VISIT T0 THE CHURCHILL ARCHIVES? 6

Following Allen Packwood’s excellent presentation on 23rd February it was suggested we should organise a trip to the Churchill Archive Centre in Cambridge.

The trip would be by coach and appropriate costings will have to be made.

However it would be useful to know how many members would welcome such an opportunity, and preferred timings.

I am raising this now so that we could have a discussion at the AGM with hopefully some idea of cost. This should give you ample time to consider your input!

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGFormal notice of the meeting will be sent out in due course, but make a note in your diaries of

the date, which is 25th April.The venue will be The Grasshopper on The Green, Westerham, timings to be advised.

After the meeting we will have a short Churchill quiz for our coveted ‘KBO’ trophy so start revising!

WEB SITE

As mentioned in the last ‘NEWS’ we now have a web site up and running.I know that some gallant folks have visited it but perhaps a few more of you could risk life

and limb and have a look.Feedback would be appreciated, good or bad, as in time, after I have set up the Google

keywords, this will be our public face.Interestingly our ‘facebook’ page has now got some ‘followers’ who are not members, and

have clicked the ‘like’ button- so any comments or help from our membership I think would greatly enhance our influence.

www.chartwellbranchtccuk.weebly.com