My Darling Winston: The Letters Between Winston Churchill and His Mother

by David Lough (Editor), Randolph Churchill (Preface)

A significant addition to the Churchill canon, My Darling Winston traces Churchill’s emotional, intellectual, and political development over a forty-year period as confided to his mother.

My Darling Winston is an edited collection of the personal letters between Winston Churchill and his mother, Jenny Jerome, between 1881—when Churchill was just six—and 1921, the year of Jenny’s death. Many of these intimate letters— between two gifted writers—are published here for the first time, and the exchange of letters between mother and son has never before been published as a correspondence.

A significant addition to the Churchill canon, My Darling Winston traces Churchill’s emotional, intellectual, and political development as confided to his primary mentor, his mother. As well as providing a basic narrative of Jenny’s and Winston Churchill’s lives over a forty-year period, My Darling Winston tells the story of a changing mother-son relationship, characterised at the outset by Churchill’s emotional and practical dependence on his mother, but which is dramatically reversed as her life begins to disintegrate tragically towards its end.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction

648 pages, Hardcover

Published October 2, 2018

Reviews

[Shirley Revill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook about Forty years of letters between Winston Churchill and his mother. It really gave me an insight into the relationship and the life of Sir Winston Churchill with his beloved mother. Really interesting and I will certainly listen again to this audiobook.

[Patricia Kitto · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like letters, read this book.
If you like history, read this book.
If you want to witness the evolution of Winston Churchill, read this book.
If you think you know what it was like to be a socialite at the turn of the last century, read this book.
If you want a peek into the relationship between a mother and son, read this book.
If you want a book you can pick up and put down, read this book.
If you like excellent historical background and footnotes so you don’t have to google everything, read this book.
5 stars. Read this book! 😁

[Rupert Wolfe-Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insight into the insecurities of a great man

[Fahad Qazi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Two days later The Times printed the full text of his letter of resignation to Asquith. In it Winston hinted publicly for the first time at what he felt were the reasons for failure: ‘Even when decisions of principle are rightly taken, the speed and method of their execution are factors which determine the results.”

““18 November [1896]
Bangalore


My dearest Mamma,
I have received your letter of Oct 30. I had no trust in Cruikshank. He is a fraud and we shall never see our money again. Prosecute him unremittingly however and have at least your revenge. […]
I hope you will take steps about the racing article in Truth. I trust you my dear Mamma to resent any particularly offensive insinuations he may make – in my absence. He is a scoundrel and one of these days I will make him smart for his impudence. His attacks on us do harm. […] We are but ground game and within easy range of his invectives. Therefore do muzzle him if you can. […]
I shall not learn Hindustani. It is quite unnecessary. All the natives here speak English perfectly […] .
Existence is peaceful if uneventful – comfortable if dull. If I can only get hold of the right people my stay here might be of value. Had I come to India as an MP – however young & foolish, I could have had access to all who know and can convey. As a soldier – my intelligent interests are supposed to stop short at Polo – racing & Orderly Officer. I vegetate – even reading is an effort & I am still in Gibbon. The newspapers when they arrive are out of date and one gobbles up a week’s Times in a single morning. […] You must get people to do things for me. To ask me to visit them etc. etc. Well goodbye my dearest Mamma – I feel exceptionally stupid today and fear this letter is not very bright or interesting. […]
With best love to you and Jack (Who never writes)

Ever your own
Winston S. Churchill”

“Two days later The Times printed the full text of his letter of resignation to Asquith. In it Winston hinted publicly for the first time at what he felt were the reasons for failure: ‘Even when decisions of principle are rightly taken, the speed and method of their execution are factors which determine the results.”

[Mo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much doubt Jennie and Winston anticipated a global audience to their correspondence.

Anyway, it’s an intimate portrait of the relationship between a boy and his mother through their various life phases: his childhood and school going days, the death of his father, his overseas military service and into his active political career.

As with all Mothers, Jennie was always needed, but to varying degrees throughout his lifetime. It even captures the moments the financial provision and advice on life switch from mother to son to adult son to mother.

They maintained a close relationship throughout their lifetime and Jennie had quite the hand in fronting her son’s agenda and advancement within her quite high circles of influence.

Theirs was a great partnership, through and through.

[Lcitera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy “letters” books. This tome of writings, in the civilized form of pen to paper, provides primary source material. If there is a major theme to the 40 years of correspondence between mother and son, it is the overwhelming inability each had to live within one’s means. Debt multiplied exponentially, but the requirements of society including the casinos of Monte Carlo and stables of polo ponies were never considered to be a luxury. A fascinating look at a famous, overly vain, and in many ways foolish, family.

[Fran Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winston Churchill and his mother Jennie Jerome kept up a heavy correspondence in the 40 years between the time Winston was six years old (1881) and the time of his mother's death in 1921. Having read quite a lot by and about both Winston and Jennie, I was pleasantly surprised about the closeness they shared over these many years. Much of the literature of their relation paints her as a rather cold and distant parent and he a neglected, needy son. This is both an entertaining and interesting read.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A political mind being birthed in the 19th century--
nurtured by mother and country--

[Thomas Argersinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprisingly interesting read with many insights about this great leader. Highly recommended.