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Articles
The Churchill Day Book for 1935
- By WILLIAM JOHN SHEPHERD
- | November 9, 2023
- Category: Churchill in History Resources
The Churchill Day Book
The Day Book is an old project, sporadically revived but never finished. It was first proposed by Dalton Newfield, the accomplished editor of Finest Hour from 1970 to 1975, lost to us far too young in 1982. Others have attempted to take up the task, but it proved formidable. In the digital age, several of our colleagues have revived the effort and contributed. Any reader wishing to help by supplying more years are most welcome. Contact [email protected].
Newfield’s objective was deceptively simple: He wanted a single reference (today digital) pinpointing Churchill’s location and activity for every day of his life. He was undaunted by the fact that the Day Book would have to cover about 33,000 days.
Given the scope, detail had to be avoided. That is provided by the Official Biography and legions of other biographies and specialized studies. Ideally, one-line entries would suffice. Knowing where Churchill was, with the briefest description of what he was doing, would be invaluable to researchers, students, scholars, or just the casually curious.
1935 Overview
As he turned 60, Winston Churchill was in the middle of his near-decade in political wilderness. Largely this stemmed from his opposition, contrary to his party and public opinion, to the Government of India Act. This passed Parliament on 5 June 1935. It put British India on the path to partial self-government. Internationally, the last three months of 1935 marked Fascist Italy’s invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
The aging and ineffectual Ramsay MacDonald resigned as Prime Minister on June 7th. He’d held the position since 1929, and since 1931 as head of a National Government of Conservative, Liberal, Liberal National, and National Labour Members. He was replaced by Conservative Stanley Baldwin, who made no offer to Churchill to join his new cabinet. Baldwin did extend a small olive branch: a seat for WSC on the Air Defence subcommittee. In the general election on November 14th, Churchill held his seat in Epping while his son Randolph failed yet again to be elected. Unbeknown to all, it was the last national election for ten years.
Personal and literary affairs
Clementine was absent the first third of 1935, cruising with a family friend, Lord Moyne, aboard his yacht Rosaura. She returned to a joyful Winston on May 2nd. His absent wife was the object of many heartfelt letters from Churchill. He sent her a series of “Chartwell Bulletins,” describing life at home, and his efforts to make a pond. By February his steam shovel had “wallowed himself into an awful pit…. This animal is very strong with his hands but very feeble with his caterpillar legs.” But he never gave in, and the pond was eventually built.
Churchill was saddened by the death on May 19th of his good friend, T.E. Lawrence, the celebrated “Lawrence of Arabia,” in a motorcycle accident near his cottage in Dorset. His loss was a blow, WSC wrote: “[T]his is a time when the great problems upon which his thought and work had so long centred… fill an ever larger space in our affairs…. I always felt that he was a man who held himself ready for a new call.” A happier event occurred on September 16th, when the eldest Churchill daughter Diana married Duncan Sandys.
Churchill’s literary efforts in 1935 included a movie script, written for famed Hollywood director Alexander Korda. Marking the Silver Jubilee of King George V, it was never produced. He also wrote numerous articles and speeches, but his primary focus was on the third of four volumes of Marlborough: His Life and Times. Nevertheless, he enjoyed working holidays in France, Spain, and Morocco, painting, gambling, and working on Marlborough.
January
1-22: Chartwell; political correspondence; begins work on Marlborough volume 3.
23-26: Bristol.
27-28: Chartwell.
29-30: London: BBC radio broadcast criticizing the India Act.
31: Chartwell.
February
1: Chartwell.
5: Liverpool speech: “Tame and Dumb Conservatives.”
6: Randolph Churchill defeated at Wavertree by-election, splitting the Conservative vote.
8-28: Spends about three days a week in Parliament, long weekends writing at Chartwell.
March
1-31: Three days a week in Parliament, the other four at Chartwell, frequently writing to his wife.
10: Writes Clementine: “One of the heifers has committed an indiscretion before she came to us and is about to have a calf. I propose however to treat it as a daughter.”
April
1-30: Continuing his division of time between London and Chartwell.
20: Clementine writes from Suez: “Oh my darling Winston… I send you this like John the Baptist to prepare the way before me, to tell you I love you…. A week today I shall be home.”
May
1-31: Fourth month fighting the India Bill; long weekends writing at Chartwell.
2: Happy reunion with Clementine who returns after nearly five months at sea.
19: Mourns loss of T.E. Lawrence in a motorcycle accident.
June
1-3: Chartwell.
4-30: Parliament in London and long weekends at Chartwell.
5: Passage of the Government of India Act.
7: Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald succeeded by Stanley Baldwin; no cabinet offer to WSC.
18: Anglo-German Naval Agreement, signed without consultations with France and Italy, violates the Treaty of Versailles and permits Germany 35% of British naval strength.
July
1-31: Weekdays in Parliament and long weekends at Chartwell. Visitors include brother Jack and wife, Pamela Lytton and husband.
3: Bristol University, where he serves as Chancellor.
10: Commons speech deplores Ireland’s “virtual transition” to a republic.
11: Commons; first of several speeches on faults of Anglo-German Naval Agreement.
24: Harlow; speech on naval security in wake of Anglo-German Naval Agreement.
25-31: London. Debate in Parliament on the implications of the India Bill.
August
1-31: Mostly at Chartwell working on Marlborough; also London and visit to Port Lympne.
21: Secret meeting with Hoare and Eden regarding the Italo-Ethiopia War.
September
1: Arrives at Ritz Hotel, Paris en route to Maxine Elliott’s villa.
2-14: Guest of Maxine Elliott at her chateau in Cannes, southern France.
15-25: Chartwell.
16: Marriage of Diana Churchill to Duncan Sandys.
26: London; Carlton Club speech on foreign policy and rearmament.
27-30: Chartwell.
October
1-3: Chartwell.
3: Learns that Italy has invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
4: Conservative Party Conference, Bournemouth.
5-7: Chartwell.
8: Chingford, Essex; speech on foreign policy.
9: London
10-16: Chartwell.
17: London; speech on British sea power.
18: Wanstead, Essex; election address.
19-23: Chartwell.
24-25: House of Commons, dissolved on the 25th for the election.
26-27: Chartwell.
28: Epping, Essex; election address.
29: Woodford, Essex; election address.
30: South Chingford, Essex; election address.
31: London.
November
1: Electioneering in Paddington.
2-4: Chartwell and electioneering in his Epping constituency.
5-7: Election speeches in Epping and Hull, Yorkshire.
8-10:: Chartwell and electioneering in his constituency.
11: Liverpool; speaks on behalf of his son, campaigning for Parliament.
12-13: Chartwell and constituency Electlioneering.
14: London; re-elected in the 1935 general election.
15-30: Chartwell, resting and writing in the election’s aftermath. Visitors include Duncan and Diana Sandys (16-17th) and Professor Lindemann (23-25).
30: Celebrates sixty-first birthday with Duncan and Diana Sandys, Archibald Sinclair and Venetia Montagu.
December
1-2: Chartwell with birthday visitors.
3-4: Chartwell to London; attends House of Commons.
5-8: Chartwell.
9: London; House of Commons.
10: Flies to Paris with Clementine, Randolph and Mary.
11: Entrains at Paris for Barcelona, then by ship to Majorca.
12: With news of Hoare-Laval Pact, returns to Barcelona.
13-19: Barcelona; communications with London on Hoare-Laval Pact, painting and work on Marlborough.
20: Leaves Barcelona with Randolph for Tangier; Clemmie and Mary return to England.
21-22: Sailing off Spanish coast.
23: Arrives Cadiz with Randolph, then sails for Tangier, Morocco
24-25: Tangier.
26: Leaves Tangier for Rabat on way to stay with Lloyd George in Marrakesh.
27-30: Marrakesh with Lloyd George.
31: Marrakesh.
Sources:
Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life. New York: Henry Holt, 1991.
Martin Gilbert, Winston S. Churchill: Prophet of Truth 1922-1939. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1975.
Martin Gilbert, ed., The Churchill Documents, vol. 12 The Wilderness Years 1929-1935. Hillsdale, Michigan: Hillsdale College Press, 1981, 2009.
Robert Rhodes James, ed., Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches 1928-1935, 6 vols. New York: Bowker, 1974, vol. VI.
David Lough, No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money. New York: Picador, 2015.
Andrew Roberts, Churchill: Walking with Destiny. New York: Viking, 2018.
The Times (London) Digital Archive.