Tag: World War I

Charting Churchill: The Cenotaph, Whitehall, London

The Cenotaph, Whitehall, London 2014 by Leslie Hossack

The Cenotaph, Whitehall, London 2014

© Leslie Hossack

In 1915, Winston Churchill resigned as First Lord of the Admiralty, after the failure of the Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaigns that he had championed. He remained in the cabinet, in the lowly post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was somewhat despondent but soon, while at Hoe Farm, he took up painting, a pastime that would bring him pleasure for the rest of his life.

However, as always, Winston craved action. In November 1916, when he was a 42-year-old married man with three small children, he resigned from the cabinet and went to France to command the Royal Scots Fusiliers in the trenches. Here he seemed to be seeking solace and redemption. After six months, Churchill returned to London and the House of Commons, still representing Dundee. In July 1917 and in December 1918, he was again elected there.

The year 1918 marked the birth of the Churchills’ fourth child, Marigold Frances. It also signaled the end of Word War I on Armistice Day, November 11th 1918. During the conflict, the British Empire suffered over 1,00,000 military deaths. Fortunately, Winston was not one of them. The Cenotaph, shown above, was completed in 1919 and commemorated the losses during Word War I. Eventually, it was also consecrated to the memory of individuals who died during World War II. Over his long career of public service, in the military and in the House of Commons, Winston Churchill attended many memorial services at the Cenotaph on Whitehall.

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: Admiralty Arch, London

Admiralty Arch, The Mall, London 2014 by Leslie Hossack

Admiralty Arch, The Mall, London 2014

© Leslie Hossack

In October 1911, Winston Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. This was a cabinet post that he relished, and in many ways he had been preparing for it throughout his entire life. In this role, Churchill made many significant decisions in the years leading up to the outbreak of World War I, in August 1914. However, in 1915 he proposed the Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaigns that failed and ultimately lead to his resignation as First Lord of the Admiralty in May 1915.

In 1912, early in Churchill’s tenure at the Admiralty, construction of the Admiralty Arch was completed. King Edward VII commissioned the building in memory of his mother, Queen Victoria. The Latin inscription across the top reads: “In the tenth year of King Edward VII, to Queen Victoria, from most grateful citizens, 1910.” During Churchill’s time, Admiralty Arch contained offices and was connected to the Old Admiralty Building via a bridge that can be seen on the right side of the above photograph. To this day, Admiralty Arch provides a ceremonial entrance from Trafalgar Square onto The Mall and along to Buckingham Palace.

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