Celia Sandys - Churchill: Wanted Dead or Alive

Copyright 1999 by Celia Sandys

First Skyhorse edition 2019

First published by Carroll & Graf 2000

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Qualcom

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-4386-1

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-4387-8

Printed in the United States of America

For Ken

I have greatly enjoyed writing all of my five books, but by far the most exciting experience was retracing my grandfathers thrilling adventures in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War.

I had intended to cover thirteen years of his life from when he left Sandhurst aged twenty until his marriage to Clementine Hozier in 1908. This was intended to be a sequel to my first book, From Winston with Love and Kisses: The Young Churchill, which was published in 1994. At the end of that year it was to be launched in South Africa, and I decided that my attendance at the launch was a good excuse for a family holiday/research trip. On the first day I was on my way to the launch party via a television interview when in idle conversation with the public relations girl I asked how many books there were.

She replied, Three hundred.

I asked, At the party tonight?

No.

In Johannesburg?

No.

In all South Africa?

Yes.

I realised immediately that there was little point discussing a book on television that would be sold out at the launch party, so I asked the presenter if she would, instead of promoting another book, help me find people whose parents or grandparents lives had been touched by Winston Churchill a century before. She was more than happy to do so, but the representative from the publisher were less so.

That night I received more than sixty responses to my appeal. I was amazed and delighted and immediately decided to change the focus of my next book from thirteen years to nine months. Those nine months, which covered his thrilling adventures in South Africa, were in any case the part of his early life that excited me the most. When we were children, the favourite game of my siblings and I was Churchill: Wanted Dead or Alive.

At the time, I didnt realise the true significance of the journey on which I was about to embark in the footsteps and hoofprints of the grandfather I had known only in his later years.

When the twenty-four-year-old Winston landed in Cape Town on October 30, 1894, he was the precocious son of a famous politician; when he sailed away nine months later, he was a household name on both sides of the Atlantic.

This fame was not a gradual process. His capture by the Boers on November 15 caught the imagination of the British and American newspapers, but this was nothing compared to what was to come.

Four weeks later, he climbed over the wall of the latrine block of the States Model School where he was imprisoned and stepped onto the international stage where he was destined to remain for the rest of his life.

Before then people were interested in him because of his father, but from that day on I discovered, in the course of my research, that they could tell me what he said, what he looked like, what clothes he wore, what he did, and even what he ate.

That day was the beginning of his greatest adventure and perhaps the most significant day of his life.

He didnt know it at the time, but the fame and glory that he craved was about to be his.

Winston was on his way.

Celia Sandys
2019

I would like to thank the many descendants, and their families, of those who were involved with Winston Churchill during the Anglo-Boer War who responded to my request for information. Without their help and guidance as I retraced my grandfathers footsteps around South Africa this book could not have been written. I am grateful to them for sharing with me the stories told to them by their parents or grandparents, for allowing me to reproduce diaries, letters and photographs, and for their friendship and hospitality. They include: Jim and Barbara Bailey, Martha Bam, Lette Bennet, Anthony Berlein, Joan Bromley, Molly Buchanan, John Burnham, Liz Burrow, Angela Caccia-Lloyd, Max Van Cittert, Stewart and Jenny Clegg, F.L. Hugh de Souza, Dr Jonathan de Souza, Johanna de Wet, Errol Dewsnap, Daniel du Plessis, Joy Fourie, Vera Gallony, Ken Gibson, Dr Alexander J.P. Graham, Jay Haggar, John Haldane, Ian Hamilton, Dr F.E. Hofmeyr, Nancy Horsfall, E.N. Howarth, Yvonne Knowles, Karl Kohler, Mike McKenna, Doris Maud, E.P. Mitchell, Jill Osborne, Tessa Power, Molly Pringle, Dr Willem Punt, Alan Raubenheimer, Becky Smit, Alexander M. Stewart, Charles Wagner and Judge Louis Weyers.

I am most grateful to my cousin Winston S. Churchill for permission to quote from works of Sir Winston Churchill and to reproduce certain documents and photographs.

I am indebted to the directors and staffs of the following libraries, museums and archives, many of whom have allowed me to reproduce material from their collections: Thomas B. Smyth of the Black Watch Museum; Marcell Weiner and Diana Madden of the Brenthurst Library, Dr Piers Brendon, Keeper of the Archives, Churchill Archive Centre, and his staff; Sir John Boyd, Master of Churchill College, Cambridge; Brian Spencer of the Don Africana Library; Lieutenant Colonel J.J. Hume of the Durban Light Infantry Museum; George Goodey of Fort Durnford Museum; the director and staff of the Killie Campbell Africana Library; Gilbert Torlage of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum Service; Marjorie Heron and Brian Kaighin of the Ladysmith Historical Society; Maureen Richards and Elizabeth Sprit of the Ladysmith Siege Museum; Clive Kirkwood of the National Archives Repository, Pretoria; the Trustees and Sheila Mackenzie of the National Library of Scotland; Philip Hirst, editor of the Oldham Chronicle; John G. Entwhistle of Reuters Archive; John Montgomery of the Royal United Services Institution; Piet Westra of the South African Library, Durban; Hester Nel and Mona Niemand of the Staats Model School, Pretoria; Barbara Conradie of the Standard Bank, Johannesburg; the staff of the MOTH Museum, Johannesburg.

It is with great gratitude that I acknowledge the assistance of the many people who helped by providing information and material from which I have quoted: Dr Paul Addison, W.H. Atteridge, Eric Bingham, David Blem, Eric Boswell, George Chadwick, the late Pitch and Eileen Christopher, Minnie Churchill, Peregrine S. Churchill, Liz Clark, Elliott Costas, Brian Dodds, Ambassador du Buisson, Steve Forbes, Robin Fryde, John Gaunt, Sir Martin Gilbert, Ken Gillings, Jill Gowans, Dr Ryno Greenwall, Peter Grindal, Clive Hatch, Sheila Henderson, Marjorie Heron, Raymond and Lynette Heron, Dr Fay Liesling, Brian Logan, Keith Lyon, W.H. Mackay, Jimmy McLachlan, Alastair Martin, Peter and Fiona Martin, the late Clive Mennell, Jessel Molin, Professor Fransjohan Pretorius, David Rattray, Taffy Shearing, Peter Stockil, Mary Swan, Audrey Densham Tanner, Ann Tyrrell, Graham Viney, Errol Wilson, Fred and Jo Woods.