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Randolph Churchill
Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill (28 May 1911 – 6 June 1968) was a British journalist, writer and politician.
The only son of future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine, Randolph was brought up to regard himself as his father's political heir, although their relations became strained in later years. In the 1930s, he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament a number of times, causing his father embarrassment. He was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Preston at the 1940 Preston by-election. During the Second World War, he served with the SAS in North Africa and with Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia. Randolph lost his seat in 1945 and was never re-elected to Parliament. Despite his lack of success in politics, Randolph enjoyed a successful career as a writer and journalist. In the 1960s, he wrote the first two volumes of the official life of his father.
Randolph was married and divorced twice. His first wife was Pamela Digby (later Harriman); their son Winston later became a Conservative MP. Throughout his life, Randolph had a reputation for rude, drunken behaviour. By the 1960s, his health had collapsed from years of heavy drinking; he outlived his father by only three years.
Randolph Churchill was born at his parents' house at Eccleston Square, London, on 28 May 1911. His parents nicknamed him "the Chumbolly" before he was born.
His father Winston Churchill was already a leading Liberal Cabinet Minister, and Randolph was christened in the House of Commons crypt on 26 October 1911, with Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey and Conservative politician F. E. Smith among his godparents. Randolph and his older sister Diana had for a time to be escorted by plain clothes detectives on their walks in the park, because of threats by suffragettes to kidnap them. He was a page at the marriage of the Prime Minister's daughter Violet Asquith to Maurice Bonham Carter on 1 December 1915.
He recalled the Zeppelin raids of 1917 as "a great treat", as the children were taken from their beds in the middle of the night, wrapped in blankets, and "allowed" to join the grown-ups in the cellar; he also recalled the Armistice celebrations at Blenheim Palace.
He went to Sandroyd School in Surrey, and later admitted that he had had a problem with authority and discipline. His headmaster reported to his father that he was "very combative". Winston, who had been neglected by his parents as a small boy, visited his son at prep school as often as possible. Randolph was very good-looking as a child and into his twenties. In his autobiography Twenty-One Years (pp. 24–25) he recorded that at the age of ten he had been "interfered with" by a junior prep school master, who made Randolph touch him sexually; Randolph had only realised that something was amiss when a matron came in, causing the master to leap embarrassed to his feet. At home, a maid overheard Randolph confiding in his sister Diana. He later wrote that he had never seen his father so angry, and that he had made a one-hundred-mile (160 km) trip to demand that the teacher be dismissed, only to learn that the teacher had already been sacked.
He remembered that he and Diana returned from ice-skating in Holland Park on 22 June 1922 to find the house guarded and being searched by "tough-looking men" following the assassination of Field Marshal Henry Wilson.
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Randolph Churchill
Major Randolph Frederick Edward Spencer Churchill (28 May 1911 – 6 June 1968) was a British journalist, writer and politician.
The only son of future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine, Randolph was brought up to regard himself as his father's political heir, although their relations became strained in later years. In the 1930s, he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament a number of times, causing his father embarrassment. He was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Preston at the 1940 Preston by-election. During the Second World War, he served with the SAS in North Africa and with Tito's partisans in Yugoslavia. Randolph lost his seat in 1945 and was never re-elected to Parliament. Despite his lack of success in politics, Randolph enjoyed a successful career as a writer and journalist. In the 1960s, he wrote the first two volumes of the official life of his father.
Randolph was married and divorced twice. His first wife was Pamela Digby (later Harriman); their son Winston later became a Conservative MP. Throughout his life, Randolph had a reputation for rude, drunken behaviour. By the 1960s, his health had collapsed from years of heavy drinking; he outlived his father by only three years.
Randolph Churchill was born at his parents' house at Eccleston Square, London, on 28 May 1911. His parents nicknamed him "the Chumbolly" before he was born.
His father Winston Churchill was already a leading Liberal Cabinet Minister, and Randolph was christened in the House of Commons crypt on 26 October 1911, with Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey and Conservative politician F. E. Smith among his godparents. Randolph and his older sister Diana had for a time to be escorted by plain clothes detectives on their walks in the park, because of threats by suffragettes to kidnap them. He was a page at the marriage of the Prime Minister's daughter Violet Asquith to Maurice Bonham Carter on 1 December 1915.
He recalled the Zeppelin raids of 1917 as "a great treat", as the children were taken from their beds in the middle of the night, wrapped in blankets, and "allowed" to join the grown-ups in the cellar; he also recalled the Armistice celebrations at Blenheim Palace.
He went to Sandroyd School in Surrey, and later admitted that he had had a problem with authority and discipline. His headmaster reported to his father that he was "very combative". Winston, who had been neglected by his parents as a small boy, visited his son at prep school as often as possible. Randolph was very good-looking as a child and into his twenties. In his autobiography Twenty-One Years (pp. 24–25) he recorded that at the age of ten he had been "interfered with" by a junior prep school master, who made Randolph touch him sexually; Randolph had only realised that something was amiss when a matron came in, causing the master to leap embarrassed to his feet. At home, a maid overheard Randolph confiding in his sister Diana. He later wrote that he had never seen his father so angry, and that he had made a one-hundred-mile (160 km) trip to demand that the teacher be dismissed, only to learn that the teacher had already been sacked.
He remembered that he and Diana returned from ice-skating in Holland Park on 22 June 1922 to find the house guarded and being searched by "tough-looking men" following the assassination of Field Marshal Henry Wilson.