CHURCHILL, SIR WINSTON | Autograph letter signed ("Winston S Churchill", and initialed postscript), 2 pages (6 1/4 x 3 7/8 in.; 159 x 98 mm), to his mother ("Darling Mummy"), on Harrow letterhead, "The Head Master's. Harrow." [n.d., ?November 1890]

CHURCHILL, SIR WINSTON

Autograph letter signed ("Winston S Churchill", and initialed postscript), 2 pages (6 1/4 x 3 7/8 in.; 159 x 98 mm), to his mother ("Darling Mummy"), on Harrow letterhead, "The Head Master's. Harrow." [n.d., ?November 1890]

An affectionate letter. In this rare letter from his early school years, a 16-year-old Winston Churchill writes to his mother, Lady Randolph, to inform her that he is "well—working—happy tho' very tired." Despite the loving tone, Churchill often felt neglected by his parents, making this letter especially memorable. Churchill sums up his relationship with his mother in My Early Life: "My mother made the same brilliant impression upon my childhood's eye. She shone for me like the Evening Star. I loved her dearly— but at a distance" (p. 19). Churchill arrived at Harrow in April 1888 and proved to be a mischievous student. As a result, he was in the bottom form of the school. Having admitted academic defeat in Latin and mathematics, and with a burgeoning interest in anything military related, Churchill was placed in the army form at Harrow. By the time this letter was written, he was already preparing for the entrance exam to Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, which he passed in all subjects.

REFERENCE:

Published in Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill, vol. I, Companion (Randolph S. Churchill), Part 1 (1967), pp. 215-6