24^th January 2025 marks 60 years since the death of Sir Winston Churchill. He was born 30 November 1874 at Blenheim Place, Oxfordshire, Winston Churchill went into politics after serving in the army.

Churchill served as a Member of Parliament from 1900 – 1922, 1924 – 1964, first for the Conservatives, then the Liberal Party, before defecting back to the Conservative Party. Whilst in office for the Liberal Party during Herbert Henry Asquith’s Government he was part of the Cabinet with North East MPs Walter Runciman and Charles Philips Trevelyan. Churchill and Trevelyan were already acquainted, having both attended Harrow School at the same time.

Walter Runciman was appointed President of the Board of Education and Charles Trevelyan the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education at that time.

In a letter to her mother, Mary Trevelyan, known as Molly wrote –

“I foresee that he is going to be rather the friend of the future. I like him quite much and he is very keen to be pleasant to me: he was a friend of Charles before we married.”

In the immediate years before World War I, Churchill was appointed Home Secretary, then given the First Lord of the Admiralty post. He resigned his government post in 1915 and saw active service on the Western and Belgian Fronts.

After his military service Churchill returned to Government, first as Minister of Munitions, then Secretary of State for War and Air, before becoming Secretary of State for the Colonies.

As Secretary of State for the Colonies Winston Churchill was part of the delegation at the Cairo Conference in 1921.  This conference included discussion on British control in the Middle East and would eventually lead to the creation of Iraq. The other delegates were T. E. Lawrence, Major Hubert Young, Herbert Samuel, Sir Percy Cox, Ja’afar al’Askari, Sir Hugh Trenchard, Sir Geoffrey Salmond, Sasun Hasqail, Geoffrey Archer, Field Marshal Edmund Allenby.

Churchill lost his seat in the 1922 election; however, he was one of 50 members to get the Order of the Companions Honour. In 1924 he stood as Member of Parliament for Epping as the Conservative candidate and was appointed Chancellor. In the 1929 election Winston retained his seat, however it was the Labour government who were the majority party.

During the 1930s Winston Churchill was not part of the cabinet, although he retained his seat. He spoke about issues of the day, The India Question, The Rise of the Nazi Party, and the Abdication Crisis where he supported Edward. He was against the appeasement trip to Czechoslovakia.

Churchill returned to the cabinet on the day World War II broke out as First Lord of the Admiralty, then after Neville Chamberlain resigned became Prime Minister of a coalition government in 1940.

During the Second World War, Winston Churchill and became known for his rousing and patriotic speeches which were commented on.

Extract of a letter written by Charles Philips Trevelyan to his wife Mary, known as Molly about Churchill’s speech and how World War II is going –

“So Churchill has said “Let there be light” and there was light.

So the ? won’t come. But what mistaken hope to reckon on real peace by December. There is no break yet in any of the defences of Germany itself. I reckon three months of the most terrible fighting and then a year of chaos before anything like an end can be.” 

Transcriptions and audio to his War Speeches can be found on the following webpage America’s National Churchill Museum | Winston Churchill’s Speeches and Writings

Churchill and the Conservatives lost the election in 1945; however he remained as leader. In 1951 the Conservatives won the election with Winston as Prime Minister, however he was not in good health and stood down as Prime Minister in 1955. He remained as an MP until 1964.

Over the previous years Winston Churchill had suffered several strokes with the final one being on 10^th January 1965. He died 3 weeks later and was given a state funeral on 30^th January 1965.   

Some say he’s the Greatest Briton that ever lived.