105 Mount Street, London 2014
© Leslie Hossack
The last year of the 19th Century saw Winston Churchill resign from the army and return to England. His first bid for a seat in Parliament was unsuccessful so he headed off to South Africa as a war correspondent. After being captured by the Boers, Winston escaped and made his way back to London. In August 1900, he moved into his first bachelor flat at 105 Mount Street, shown above. Two months later, he was elected to Parliament and began his life of public service.
As the 20th Century dawned, Winston Churchill, a child of Victorian England, was starting to settle down. However, he did not give up travel entirely. After his election in 1900, he sailed to the United States for a lecture tour that lasted through January 1901. The tour was hugely successful and helped to establish his international reputation as an outstanding orator. Winston had left England during the reign of Queen Victoria, and he returned to take up his duties as an elected Member of Parliament during the reign of Edward VII.
By now, Churchill was well known as an adventurer, lecturer, journalist and author. As of 1900, he had published countless newspaper articles and several books. These include: The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898), The River War (1899), Savrola, his only novel (1900), London to Ladysmith via Pretoria (1900) and Ian Hamilton’s March (1900). To view a complete list of the 43 books written by Sir Winston Churchill, please visit The Churchill Centre.
The image featured above is part of the limited edition collector’s portfolio created by Leslie Hossack to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill. She presents locations that chart Churchill’s personal and political life, from his birth at Blenheim Palace in 1874 until his death in London in 1965. THE CHURCHILL PHOTOGRAPHS are part of Hossack’s larger body of work that explores Nazi architecture in Berlin, Stalinist structures in Moscow, contested sites in Jerusalem, a Cold War bunker in Ottawa, NATO’s Headquarter Camp in Kosovo, and buildings linked to the Japanese Canadian internment during World War II.
To view more photographs, please visit Leslie’s website. lesliehossack.com
HAUTE VITRINE 