My Early Life

Last updated
My Early Life
My Early Life.jpg
Cover of a paperback edition of My Early Life, 2011
Author Winston Spencer Churchill
CountryEngland
SubjectMilitary campaigns
Genre Autobiography
PublisherT. Butterworth, London
C. Scribner's Sons, New York
Publication date
1930 (1930)

My Early Life, also known in the US as A Roving Commission: My Early Life, is a 1930 book by Winston Churchill. It is an autobiography from his birth in 1874 to around 1902. The book closes with mention of his marriage in 1908, stating that he lived happily ever after.

Contents

Synopsis

The book begins by describing his childhood and schooldays, and provides context for the earlier published accounts of events in his early life. He describes his large collection of toy soldiers, his usually unsuccessful experiences in school, and how his family decided his path in life was to join the army as an officer.

He describes how he became proficient in writing and speaking English, as he has three terms of a course under an excellent teacher of English; had he been a more successful student by the standards of schools of his youth, he would have learned Latin and Greek instead. That part of his education proved fruitful when he began to write for newspapers and speak in public, gaining praise for his efforts. He was saddened by the early death of his father, not having the opportunity to have an adult relationship with him. Otherwise, his characteristic optimism carries him through every experience of his life, allowing him to see events that at first seemed a misfortune as changing his path in life to one with a later success.

Harrow School prepared him to attend the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and become an officer in the army, specifically in a cavalry unit. He was an avid polo player in his years as an army officer. Once out of formal schooling, he was eager for experiences, taking every opportunity to be where the action was. He was an observer in Cuba when Spain fought the rebels there and that same itch for experience took him to battles in the North-West Frontier Province of India (an area now in Pakistan), and to the Second Boer War, in South Africa.

He describes his program to broaden his education as an officer in India with much spare time on his hands, especially in the heat of midday. His mother shipped books to him, and he read widely in history, philosophy, and ethics, at the moment when he was ready to absorb the information and keep it in his memory. He describes the effect of one incident in travelling by ship to his first posting in India that dislocated his shoulder, an injury that affected him the rest of his life, limiting his activity in sports and a few times in battle. One example of this was his reliance on a pistol instead of his cavalry sword in battle, with at least one situation where his injured shoulder would have led to him being a casualty instead of the victor.

He needed to support himself financially and learned he could earn money as a reporter of the scenes of war he witnessed as a soldier, and after he left the army. He wrote books on the major military campaigns, earning money from the sales. His first attempt to stand for election as a member of parliament failed; events in South Africa drew him there, gaining him a reputation that let him win a seat once he returned to England at age 26. His dramatic escape from being a prisoner of war gained him fame, and his subsequent newspaper accounts of later battles secured his generally favorable reputation.

A significant portion of the book covers his experiences in the Second Boer War of 1899–1902, which he had earlier described in London to Ladysmith via Pretoria (1900) and Ian Hamilton's March (1900). It also includes descriptions of other campaigns he had previously written about: The River War (1899), concerning the reconquest of Sudan, and The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1898) in today's Pakistan.

He wrote this autobiography in his mid 50s, after the Great War and before anyone knew there would be a Second World War. His perspective from his experience of war in the 20th century allowed him to see his early life as part of a vanished era in warfare, and in the social structure of life in England.

Background

Churchill aged 21 as a subaltern in the 4th Hussars, 1895 Winston Churchill 1874 - 1965 ZZZ5426F.jpg
Churchill aged 21 as a subaltern in the 4th Hussars, 1895

The introduction notes that Churchill endeavoured to write the book from his point of view at the time of the events, but it contains different commentaries on the events described in the other books, many of which were originally written as contemporary newspaper columns. From his perspective of writing in 1930, he notes that he has 'drawn a picture of a vanished age'. The book also notes an observation by the French ambassador to Britain between 1900 and 1920, that during his time, a silent revolution had occurred, which totally replaced the ruling class of Britain.

The book was published after the Conservative Party lost the 1929 election and consequently Churchill ceased to be a member of the government. He occupied himself, instead, writing a number of books, which together with public speaking was his chief source of income throughout his life. However, most of My Early Life was written during the parliamentary recess in the summer of 1928. He wrote to Stanley Baldwin, "I have had a delightful month - building a cottage and dictating a book: 200 bricks and 2000 words per day." [1]

The first English edition published by Thornton Butterworth in October 1930 sold 11,200 copies, and the American edition published by Charles Scribner's Sons sold 6,600. Scribner's titled the book by the name of its UK subtitle, A Roving Commission.

The book includes an observation made upon the death of his nanny. He wrote, "She had been my dearest and most intimate friend during the whole of the twenty years I had lived." [2]

Book

Reception

This book has been considered by some to be Churchill's best book and one of the outstanding works of the 20th century because it was deliberately written to be much shorter than his typical books, with a slight sense of irony and an intention to entertain. It contains a certain level of self-mockery alongside criticism of others he encountered. Unlike some other of his works, it did not seek to prove any particular point. [3]

Film

The 1972 film Young Winston was based on this book.

Publication history

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John MacBride</span> Irish republican (1868-1916)

John MacBride was an Irish republican and military leader. He was executed by the British government for his participation in the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Botha</span> First prime minister of the Union of South Africa

Louis Botha was a South African politician who was the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa – the forerunner of the modern South African state. A Boer war veteran during the Second Boer War, he eventually fought to have South Africa become a British Dominion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Hamilton (British Army officer)</span> British Army general (1853–1947)

General Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, was a senior British Army officer who had an extensive British Imperial military career in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Hamilton was twice recommended for the Victoria Cross, but on the first occasion was considered too young, and on the second too senior. He was wounded in action at the Battle of Majuba during the First Boer War, which rendered his left hand permanently injured. Near the end of his career, he commanded the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal</span> Place in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Ladysmith is a city in the Uthukela District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It lies 230 kilometres (140 mi) north-west of Durban and 365 kilometres (227 mi) south-east of Johannesburg. Important industries in the area include food processing, textiles, and tyre production. Ladysmith is the seat for both the Alfred Duma Local Municipality and Uthukela District Municipality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Churchill (1880–1947)</span> British military officer

Major John Strange Spencer-Churchill, known as Jack Churchill, was the younger son of Lord Randolph Churchill and his wife Jennie, and the brother of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Sir Winston Churchill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Ladysmith</span> Engagement in the Second Boer War (1899–1900)

The siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. E. B. Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone</span> British soldier and politician (1868–1947)

John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone,, also known as Jack Seely, was a British Army general and politician. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1904 and a Liberal MP from 1904 to 1922 and from 1923 to 1924. He was Secretary of State for War for the two years prior to the First World War, before being forced to resign as a result of the Curragh Incident. He led one of the last great cavalry charges in history at the Battle of Moreuil Wood on his war horse Warrior in March 1918. Seely was a great friend of Winston Churchill and the only former cabinet minister to go to the front in 1914 and still be there four years later.

<i>Young Winston</i> 1972 film directed by Richard Attenborough

Young Winston is a 1972 British epic biographical adventure drama war film covering the early years of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, based in particular on his 1930 book, My Early Life. The first part of the film covers Churchill's unhappy schooldays, up to the death of his father. The second half covers his service as a cavalry officer in India and the Sudan, during which he takes part in the cavalry charge at Omdurman, his experiences as a war correspondent in the Second Boer War, during which he is captured and escapes, and his election to Parliament at the age of 26.

<i>The River War</i> 1899 book by Winston Churchill

The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan (1899), by Winston Churchill, is a history of the conquest of the Sudan between 1896 and 1899 by Anglo-Egyptian forces led by Lord Kitchener. He defeated the Sudanese Dervish forces, led by Khalifa Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, heir to the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad, who had vowed to conquer Egypt and drive out the Ottomans. The first, two-volume, edition includes accounts of Churchill's own experiences as a British Army officer during the war, and his views on its conduct.

<i>Savrola</i> 1900 novel by Winston Churchill

Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania is the only major fictional work of Winston S. Churchill. The story describes events in the capital of Laurania, a fictional European state, as unrest against the dictatorial government of president Antonio Molara turns to violent revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Malakand</span> 1897 siege of a British garrison in India

The siege of Malakand was the 26 July – 2 August 1897 siege of the British garrison in the Malakand region of colonial British India's North West Frontier Province. The British faced a force of Pashtun tribesmen whose tribal lands had been bisected by the Durand Line, the 1,519 mile (2,445 km) border between Afghanistan and British India drawn up at the end of the Anglo-Afghan wars to help hold back what the British feared to be the Russian Empire's spread of influence towards the Indian subcontinent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bindon Blood</span> British Army General

General Sir Bindon Blood, was a British Army commander who served in Egypt, Afghanistan, India, and South Africa.

The First Mohmand campaign was a British military campaign against the Mohmands from 1897 to 1898.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winston Churchill as writer</span> Writing career of the British politician

Winston Churchill, in addition to his careers of soldier and politician, was a prolific writer under the variant of his full name 'Winston S. Churchill'. After being commissioned into the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in 1895, Churchill gained permission to observe the Cuban War of Independence, and sent war reports to The Daily Graphic. He continued his war journalism in British India, at the Siege of Malakand, then in the Sudan during the Mahdist War and in southern Africa during the Second Boer War.

<i>London to Ladysmith via Pretoria</i>

London to Ladysmith via Pretoria is a book written by Winston Churchill. It is a personal record of Churchill's impressions during the first five months of the Second Boer War. It includes an account of the Relief of Ladysmith, and also the story of Churchill's capture and dramatic escape from the Boers. The book was first published in 1900, and dedicated to the staff of the Natal Government railway.

Ian Hamilton's March is a book written by Winston Churchill. It is a description of his experiences accompanying the British army during the Second Boer War, continuing after the events described in London to Ladysmith via Pretoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Relief of Ladysmith</span>

When the Second Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899, the Boers had a numeric superiority within Southern Africa. They quickly invaded the British territory and laid siege to Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. Britain meanwhile transported thousands of troops both from the United Kingdom itself and from elsewhere in the Empire and by the time the siege of Ladysmith had been lifted, had a huge numeric superiority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penn Symons</span>

Lieutenant-General Sir William Penn Symons KCB was a British Army officer who was mortally wounded as he commanded his forces at the Battle of Talana Hill during the Second Boer War. While his forces won the battle, they had to abandon their position and fall back to Ladysmith. Symons and the more severely wounded were left to the Boers; he died three days later as a prisoner of war. A monument to his valour was raised in Victoria Park, Saltash, Cornwall, UK.

The South African Light Horse regiment of the British Army were raised in Cape Colony in 1899 and disbanded in 1907.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early life of Winston Churchill</span> Life of Winston Churchill, 1874–1904

The early life of Winston Churchill covers the period from his birth on 30 November 1874 to 31 May 1904 when he formally crossed the floor of the House of Commons, defecting from the Conservative Party to sit as a member of the Liberal Party.

References

  1. Jenkins 2001 , p. 421
  2. T E C Jr. M.D (5 November 1977). "Winston Churchill's Poignant Description of the Death of his Nanny". Pediatrics. 60 (5): 752. doi:10.1542/peds.60.5.752. S2CID   245103492.
  3. Jenkins, Roy (2001). Churchill. Macmillan. pp. 420–421. ISBN   0-333-78290-9.