Churchill's Obituary

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill died today, December 14, 1931, in New York City following injuries sustained in a traffic accident. He had been in the United States on a lecture tour.

A noted British statesman, he had served the United Kingdom first as an MP in the British Parliament starting in 1900 and would later attain the posts of First Lord of the Admiralty, Home Secretary, and Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was a career marked with sensationalism as Churchill crossed the aisle not once, but twice, moving between both the Conservative and Liberal Parties. When asked about these shifting alliances, Churchill was quoted as saying, “Anyone can rat, but it takes a certain ingenuity to re-rat.” His political career covered the failed Gallipoli invasion, the establishment of the Irish Free State, return of the United Kingdom to the Gold Standard, and opposition to Indian Home Rule.

A veteran of the Great War, he served as Colonel of the Royal Scots Fusiliers 6th Battalion on the Western Front. Prior military experience included his serving as a cavalry officer and war correspondent throughout the British Empire including India, Sudan, and South Africa. He was also an author of books covering both his military campaigns and his father’s life, the critically acclaimed Lord Randolph Churchill.

Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald mourned Churchill’s death stating, “His was a career of great potential, full of marvelous heights and terrific depths. It is sad we will never see where it could have gone.”

He is survived by his wife, Clementine, and their children, Diana, Randolph, Sarah, and Mary.

SOURCE: New York Times