Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill (55 page)

“very nearly the last”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 245.

“When all is said”
: Steevens,
From Capetown to Ladysmith
, 36.

“nice surprise”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 32.

As the train picked up speed
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 245.

The first thing Churchill saw
: Ibid., 246.

“He was a civilian”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 33.

Realizing that they were about to lose
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 246–47. Ten years later, when Churchill became home secretary, he remembered his promise to the train driver and suggested to the king that he be awarded the Albert Medal, the highest award for gallantry that a British citizen can receive.

“This arrangement gave us”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 34.

Turning on his heels
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 247.

“I knew him well enough”
:
A Soldier’s Saga
, 143–44.

“Any direct shell”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 33.

As if to prove that theory
: Ibid., 34.

“It took more than verbal persuasion”
: Haldane,
Soldier’s Saga
, 144.

The enemy quickly surrounded
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 34–35.

“I know myself pretty well”
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, Dec. 22, 1897, CAC.

“Winston is like a strong wire”
: Atkins,
Incidents and Reflections
, 131.

“one of the bitterest disappointments”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 248.

“There was a grinding crash”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 35.

“the expectation of destruction”
: Ibid.

Climbing out of his battered truck
: Haldane,
Soldier’s Saga
, 145.

“standing in the cab”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 35–36.

“The whole arm was smashed”
: Ibid., 36.

“No shouting on my part”
: Haldane,
Soldier’s Saga
, 145.

“Several screamed”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 36.

“What a shame!”
: Steevens,
From Capetown to Ladysmith
, 28.

“there has been a great deal”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 37.

“crying out about the number”
: Atkins,
Relief of Ladysmith
, 193.

As soon as they spotted the handkerchief
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 36.

“Full of animated movement”
: Ibid., 37.

“Death stood before me”
: Ibid.

“When one is alone and unarmed”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 252.

Standing before the man
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 37.

CHAPTER 13: TO SUBMIT, TO OBEY, TO ENDURE

Just two miles outside Estcourt
: Atkins,
Relief of Ladysmith
, 73.

When they were finally close enough
: Amery,
My Political Life
, 117; Atkins,
Incidents and Reflections
, 129.

“shortly and stumblingly”
: Atkins,
Relief of Ladysmith
, 73–74.

“Well, I devoutly hope”
: Ibid., 75–76.

“All military pride”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 38.

Furious with himself
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 253.

The two men had not gone far
: Haldane,
Soldier’s Saga
, 146.

“deep and dreary dungeon”
: Haldane,
How We Escaped from Pretoria
.

“I had not helped anybody”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 257.

“Something at least was saved”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 38.

“meditated blankly upon the sour rewards”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 257.

“like cattle!”
: Quoted in Randolph S. Churchill,
Youth
, 475.

“You need not walk fast”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 38.

“Behind every hill”
: Ibid., 39.

“I am a newspaper correspondent”
: Ibid., 40.

“A civilian in a half uniform”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 258.

“a name better known”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 39.

“from the depths of the ground”
: “The African Diamond Mines,”
Scientific American
, Aug. 22, 1891, 13042.

Although he was more than justified
: Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill,
Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa
, 92.

“The Boer farmer…is perfectly uneducated”
: Ibid., 94.

“Lord Randolph Churchill”
: Quoted in Manchester,
Visions of Glory
, 165–66.

“I have composed here”
: Randolph Churchill to Lady Randolph Churchill, July 2, 1891.

“You cannot imagine”
: WSC to Randolph Churchill, July [8?], 1891, CAC.

“I hear the horrid Boers”
: WSC to Randolph Churchill, Sept. 28, 1891, CAC.

“prey to gnawing anxiety”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 258.

“Oh, we do not catch lords’ sons”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 40.

“English by race”
: Ibid., 40–41.

“It seemed that love of life”
: Ibid., 40.

“if any officer”
: Haldane to Knutford, April 22, 1931.

“I think that it is a cardinal fact”
: Haldane,
Soldier’s Saga
, 147–48.

“Why not lie buried”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 42.

Soon after a breakfast
: Ibid.

Later in the day, as they drew nearer
: Haldane,
Soldier’s Saga
, 148.

“Beleaguered Ladysmith”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 44.

Once inside his tent
: Ibid., 46.

“One could not help regretting”
: Haldane,
Soldier’s Saga
, 148.

While arrangements for the final leg
: Randolph S. Churchill,
Youth
, 475.

“The reader will believe”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 47.

“Amid the approving grins”
: Ibid.

Also stationed in Estcourt
: Judith Crosbie, “The Great Escape: How My Family Gave Churchill a Leg Up,”
Irish Times
, nd.

“He told me I would never”
: Brockie to his father, May 15, 1900, CAC.

Brockie had to crawl
: Ibid.

When he was captured
: Ibid.

“maintain the fiction”
: Haldane,
Soldier’s Saga
, 148.

“We thought he was the very man”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 261.

Speaking in undertones
: Ibid.

Continuously looking about the train car
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 51.

CHAPTER 14: “I REGRET TO INFORM YOU”

“always been noted as the resort”
: “The ‘Maine’s’ Concert,”
Daily Mail
, Nov. 20, 1899.

As Jennie’s guests stepped
: “Mrs. Brown Potter’s Concert,”
Gloucestershire Echo
, Nov. 20, 1899; “ ‘Maine’s’ Concert.”

“Pretty women wearing the prettiest”
: “ ‘Maine’s’ Concert.”

Everyone from the Prince of Wales
: Ibid.

“I regret to inform you”
: Randolph S. Churchill,
Youth
, 475–76.

“The railway men who accompanied”
:
Morning Post
, Nov. 18, 1899.

Instead of commenting on the fact
: “Mr. Churchill’s Heroism,”
Yorkshire Evening News
, Nov. 17, 1899.

“Mr. Winston Churchill is said”
: Quoted in the
Morning Post
, Nov. 18, 1899.

“rallied the party frequently”
: Quoted in ibid.

“The dangers of the modern war correspondent’s work”
: Ibid.

“We wish him a safe return”
: “Mr. Winston Churchill,”
Nottingham Evening Post
, Nov. 17, 1899.

“This is the way to Parliament”
: Atkins,
Incidents and Reflections
, 130.