Charting Churchill: Saint Martin’s Churchyard, Bladon

Saint Martin’s Churchyard, Bladon 2014

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born November 30th 1874 at Blenheim Palace. He died 90 years later at his home in London, on January 24th 1965.

The year 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill. After a state funeral in London, Sir Winston was buried on January 30th 1965 in the Churchill family plot in Saint Martin’s Churchyard in Bladon, just a mile from where he was born. On the day of his funeral, flowers arrived in the churchyard for the private family graveside service. In the pamphlet Sir Winston Churchill and the Bladon Connection, published by the Parish Church of St. Martin, Bladon, it is noted that the Queen’s flowers were white and exquisite, and written in her own hand were the words: “Winston Churchill, From the Nation and Commonwealth, In Grateful Remembrance, Elizabeth R.” Lady Churchill’s flowers are described as glorious red, accompanied by a note reading: “To Winston with all my love, Clemmie.”

And so, after a lifetime of pomp and circumstance, Winston was quietly laid to rest in a tiny plot behind Saint Martin’s Church. Here, Clemmie said goodbye to Winnie: husband, father, grandfather; cavalry officer, infantry man, military strategist; reporter, author, orator; politician, parliamentarian, prime minister; statesman, Nobel laureate, Knight of the Garter; painter, brick layer, world traveller. Here, in a country churchyard, Clementine bade farewell to Winston, the man who loved: dogs, cats and horses; exotic butterflies, ornamental fish and roses; Cuban cigars, fine food and Pol Roger champagne; afternoon naps, hot baths and late nights; Blenheim Palace, Chartwell Manor and the Houses of Parliament; hats of all kinds, bespoke tailoring and polka dot bow ties; and the man that many credit with saving the world from Nazi tyranny.

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

Charting Churchill: Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London

Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London 2014

The year 2015 commemorates the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill. In 1965, he died at the age of 90 at his home in London, on January 24th. This was the same day that his father, Lord Randolph Churchill, had died 70 years earlier. Sir Winston was honoured with a State Funeral, and for three days his coffin lay in state in Westminster Hall. Then on January 30th at 9:45, the funeral cortege left Westminster Hall, and Sir Winston Churchill’s coffin was drawn through the crowded, silent streets of London to Saint Paul’s Cathedral.

The 11:00 funeral service was attended by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and other members of the royal family. Also present were dignitaries from around the world, including: President Charles de Gaulle of France, former President Dwight Eisenhower of the United States, and Prime Minister and Mrs. Lester Pearson of Canada. Plans for the funeral, code-named Operation Hope Not, had been years in the making. Churchill had not taken a very active part in the planning, but he did specify that he wanted military bands and soldiers.

Following the service, the funeral cortege left Saint Paul’s, arriving at Tower Hill at 12:25. There was a Royal Air Force Fly Past at 12:52. During the river cortege, as Sir Winston’s coffin passed by, the cranes along the Thames were lowered in final tribute. At 13:05 the river cortege arrived at Festival Hall Pier, and a motor cortege proceeded to Waterloo Station. From there a special train departed at 13:25, carrying Sir Winston Churchill on his final journey to Saint Martin’s Churchyard in Bladon, just a mile from Blenheim Palace where he was born.

To view more photographs, please visit Leslie’s website. lesliehossack.com

Charting Churchill: Westminster Hall, London

Westminster Hall, Houses of Parliament, London 2014

On November 30th 1954, Sir Winston Churchill celebrated his 80th birthday in Westminster Hall, shown above. At that time he was Prime Minister, and he continued to serve in that position until he resigned on April 5th 1955. He made his last political speech on March 1st 1955, advising: “Never flinch, never weary, never despair.” Certainly, Churchill himself did not seem to weary. In May 1955, he was once again elected to serve as Member of Parliament for Woodford, and the following year, he began publishing his opus A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (four volumes, 1956-1958).

Sir Winston Churchill won his final election in October 1959, and he represented Woodford until he retired in 1964. At that time, the House of Commons presented him with a Vote of Thanks for more than 60 years service as a Member of Parliament. October 1964 marked the first general election that he did not contest since first running for Parliament in 1895.

The year 2015 commemorates the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill. On January 24th 1965, he died at the age of 90 in his home on Hyde Park Gate, London. He was granted a State Funeral and his coffin lay in state in Westminster Hall, in the Houses of Parliament, on the exact spot from which the above photograph was taken. During a three-day period, more than 300,000 peopled filed past the catafalque to pay their respects to Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill.

To view more photographs, please visit Leslie’s website. lesliehossack.com

Charting Churchill: Windsor Castle

Tower Near King Henry VIII Gate, Windsor Castle, Windsor 2014

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill received a vast number of honours, orders, decorations and medals. The highest honour for civil and military service in Britain is Knight of the Garter. Churchill was invested with the Garter on April 24th 1953 and installed at Windsor Castle on June 14th 1954. This knighthood takes precedence over all of his other titles: Sir Winston Churchill KG, OM, CH and so on. His wife Clementine accordingly became Lady Churchill.

The Order of the Garter, the oldest British Order of Chivalry, was founded by King Edward III in 1348. Knights of the Garter are personally selected by the Monarch, and membership is limited to 25 knights plus the Sovereign. It was Queen Elizabeth II who formally invested Sir Winston Churchill in the Throne Room at Windsor Castle. Then, after a luncheon, the knights processed in their full regalia to a service in St. George’s Chapel, located within the Castle walls.

This Garter ceremonial has taken place every year since 1948 when it was revived by King George VI. Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne upon the death of her father George VI on February 6th 1952. Winston Churchill was Queen Elizabeth’s first Prime Minister; she was 25 and he was 77. Sir Winston continued to serve as her Prime Minister until April 5th 1955 when he resigned from that position at age 80.

To view more photographs, please visit Leslie’s website. lesliehossack.com

Charting Churchill: Lock & Co. Hatters, St. James’s Street, London

Lock & Co. Hatters, St. James’s Street, London 2014

Winston Churchill was a man of many hats, literally and figuratively. After several years as Leader of the Opposition, he once again became Prime Minister, on October 26th 1951. He left his painter’s smock and bricklayer’s overalls at Chartwell, his country home in Kent, and moved with Clementine back into Number 10 Downing Street. There they lived from December 1951 until April 1955, when he resigned as Prime Minister at the age of 80.

There are many press photographs showing Prime Minister Churchill going back and forth to Parliament from Downing Street. He is inevitably wearing a white shirt, dark suit, polka dot bow tie, and a black hat such as the one seen in the middle of the above photograph. Although many of his hats were by Scot & Co. of Old Bond Street, he also purchased hats from Lock & Co. founded in 1676.

To view more photographs, please visit Leslie’s website. lesliehossack.com

Charting Churchill: Sir Martin Gilbert, Official Biographer

Sir Martin Gilbert, Hatchard’s Booksellers, London 2014

Throughout his long life, Sir Winston Churchill published many books, and in 1953 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Of course, many more books have been written about him, than by him. Sir Martin Gilbert, who became Churchill’s official biographer in 1968, passed away on February 3rd 2015. Shown above are just a few of Gilbert’s more than 80 books. He is remembered not only as an author but also as a revered historian. For more information about Sir Martin Gilbert and his work, please visit the Martin Gilbert website.

Seen in the above photograph are the eight volumes of Churchill’s biography, the last six written by Gilbert. The book covers read as follows.

TOP ROW: Winston S. Churchill by Randolph S. Churchill, Youth 1874-1900; Winston S. Churchill by Randolph S. Churchill, Young Statesman 1901-1914.

MIDDLE ROW: Winston S. Churchill by Martin Gilbert Volume III 1914-1916; Winston S. Churchill by Martin Gilbert Volume IV 1917-1922; Winston S. Churchill by Martin Gilbert Volume V 1922-1939.

BOTTOM ROW: Winston S. Churchill by Martin Gilbert Finest Hour 1939-1941; Winston S. Churchill by Martin Gilbert Volume VII Road to Victory 1941-1945; Winston S. Churchill by Martin Gilbert Volume VIII ‘Never Despair’ 1945-1965.

To view more photographs, please visit Leslie’s website. lesliehossack.com

Charting Churchill: The Long Library, Blenheim Palace

Long Library, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock 2014

In 1874, Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim, one of Britain’s greatest palaces. The Long Library, measuring over 55 metres from end to end, was once described as the longest room in England. As a boy, Churchill spent many holidays visiting his grandparents at Blenheim where he spent countless hours playing indoors and out with his younger brother Jack and their cousins. Perhaps his love of reading and writing started in the room shown above. Throughout his long life, Churchill composed hundreds of newspaper articles, magazine features, political speeches, public lectures, and full-length books, some of several volumes.

In the period following World War II, Churchill published The Dawn of Liberation (1945), Victory (1946), War Speeches (1940-45, 1946), Secret Session Speeches (1946), The Second World War, 6 volumes (1948-53), The Sinews of Peace (1948), Painting as a Pastime (1948), Europe Unite (1950), In the Balance (1951), The War Speeches, 3 volumes (1951-52), and Stemming the Tide: Speeches (1953.) That same year, on December 10th 1953, Sir Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.” Due to ill health, Churchill was unable to attend the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, and his speech was read by Lady Churchill.

To view more photographs, please visit Leslie’s website. lesliehossack.com

Charting Churchill: The Studio at Chartwell

The Studio at Chartwell, Westerham 2014

After his party lost the general election, Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister and became Leader of the Opposition on July 26th 1945. The following year, he determined that he must sell his beloved country home Chartwell. Fortunately, a group of friends purchased the estate and gave it to the National Trust, with the proviso that the Churchills could live there the rest of their lives.

From the time he acquired Chartwell in 1922, Churchill loved to paint there. Eventually, he had a studio, shown above. Churchill enjoyed painting en plein air, but he also worked in his studio, often from photographs of a scene that he had admired during his travels. Churchill painted from 1915 until 1959/60. When he wrote about painting, he said: “We must not be too ambitious. We cannot aspire to masterpieces. We may content ourselves with a joy ride in a paintbox. For this, Audacity is the only ticket.”

During his lifetime, Churchill painted over 500 pictures, approximately 300 of them during the 1930s, his Wilderness Years. During World War II, he created only one painting, in January 1943 in Marrakech, following his meeting with President Roosevelt in Casablanca. He later gave the painting to the President. Churchill’s first painting after the war was completed in France between the election on July 5th 1945 and the announcement of the results on July 26th. No longer Prime Minister, he had time to devote himself once again to his favourite pastime.

To view more photographs, please visit Leslie’s website. lesliehossack.com

Charting Churchill: 28 Hyde Park Gate, London

28 Hyde Park Gate, London 2014

On May 8th 1945, Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a broadcast to the nation announcing Germany’s unconditional surrender. A few days later, the wartime coalition government broke up, and on May 23rd 1945 Churchill formed a caretaker government. That summer there was a general election in Great Britain and the Labour Party won a landslide victory. On July 26th, Churchill resigned as Prime Minister and became Leader of the Opposition.

It was time to leave the official residence at 10 Downing Street. Churchill purchased 28 Hyde Park Gate, shown above, where he and Clementine lived from 1945 until his death in 1965. In 1951, he became Prime Minister once again, and they lived at 10 Downing Street from 1951 to 1955, before returning to 28 Hyde Park Gate.

August 1945, the month following Churchill’s resignation as Prime Minister, saw cataclysmic events around the globe. The atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th and on Nagasaki on August 9th. Japan surrendered on August 15th, VJ Day, and World War II came to end six years after it had begun. Sir Winston Churchill will always be remembered as the resolute and inspirational individual who led Great Britain through that global conflict.

To view more photographs, please visit Leslie’s website. lesliehossack.com

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL’S WAR YEARS

CHARTING CHURCHILL, 1874 – 1965

Part 5, The War Years, 1939 – 1945

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill’s state funeral. On November 30th 2014, Winston Churchill’s 140th birthday, Haute Vitrine started publishing images from the series THE CHURCHILL PHOTOGRAPHS by Leslie Hossack.

The previous post marked the end of Part 5, The War Years, 1939 – 1945. During this time, Sir Winston Churchill served as Prime Minister from May 10th 1940 until the end of World War II. He led Great Britain through its darkest days and finest hour, in the fight against Nazi tyranny. Photographs featured in Part 5, The War Years can be reviewed below.

To view the photographs from Part 1, The Early Years, 1874 – 1892; Part 2, The Defining Years, 1892 – 1908; Part 3, The Political Years, 1908 – 1929; and Part 4, The War Years, 1939 – 1945, please see the Haute Vitrine posts of November 30th 2014 through January 16th 2015.

Leslie Hossack’s CHARTING CHURCHILL will continue through January 2015, the month that marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill, and into February with Part 6, The Later Years, 1945 – 1965.

Cabinet Room, The Cabinet War Rooms, Clive Steps, London 2014

Churchill’s Office, The Cabinet War Rooms, Clive Steps, London 2014

10 Downing Street, London 2014

The Main House, Bletchley Park 2014

Hut 8, Bletchley Park 2014

Main Entrance and House, Ditchley Park 2014

Garden Front of House, Ditchley Park 2014

Prime Minister’s Bathroom, Ditchley Park 2014

Hoar Memorial Hall, Church House, Dean’s Yard, London 2014

Buckingham Palace, London 2014

The images featured above are part of the limited edition collector’s portfolio created by Leslie Hossack. She presents locations that chart Sir Winston Churchill’s personal and political life, from his birth at Blenheim Palace in 1874 until his death in London in 1965. To read the stories behind these images, please see the previous posts here on Haute Vitrine.

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