The mysterious Churchill
I think of myself as being reasonably well read. I’ve been a writer all of my life, and have made it a practice to research everything I ever wrote. Thus you can imagine my bafflement the other day when, upon coming across the title of a book called “Richard Carvel,” I discovered it had been written by Winston Churchill, in 1899. It was about Revolutionary Maryland in which the hero serves as a naval officer under John Paul Jones. And, it sold nearly a million copies … in the United States. To make the bottom of a bestseller list today, a novel must sell approximately 35,000 books. A million books? In those days? Unbelievable to the 10th power.
Then followed “The Crisis” in 1901, a novel about the American Civil War (Why would an extremely young Winston Churchill care enough about the Civil War in this country to take the time to write a novel about it?). It was also hugely successful. The heroine of this tale is a descendant of his earlier hero, Richard Carvel. Then came “The Crossing” in 1904. This novel tells of Kentucky pioneers during the American Revolution (well, at least this one had as background material our troubles with England).
Apparently, these romantic tales of America’s past were Churchill’s most popular works. His later work consisted chiefly of novels dealing with political, religious or social problems (of course, I knew some of that).
Ah, but then I read that in 1899 he moved to New Hampshire, and lived there for almost 50 years. In fact, in 1912, he was a Progressive Party candidate for the governorship.
The only way this all could have occurred is if there were two Winston Churchills. There were.
There was an English Winston Churchill, whom you have undoubtedly heard about, and an American one. The coincidences of their parallel lives make this story too fascinating to ignore, and yet, it is never, to my knowledge, considered today, if it ever was, much less discussed.
The American Churchill graduated from the U.S. Navel Academy, in 1894. The English one had a conspicuously poor academic record as a young man, and so his father made the decision to enter him into an army career. It might be difficult to believe, but it was only at the third attempt he managed to pass the entrance examination to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. But once there he apparently applied himself and graduated 20th out of a class of 130.
The English Churchill saw service as both soldier and journalist. He wrote “The Story of the Malakand Field Force” in 1898. His dispatches attracted such wide attention that they launched him on the career of authorship, which he intermittently pursued throughout his life.
In 1897-98 he wrote Savrota (published in 1900), a Ruritanian romance, and got himself attached to Lord Kitchener’s Nile expeditionary force in the same dual role of soldier and correspondent. “The River War” (1899) brilliantly describes the campaign.
Both men were born wealthy. Both were publishing at the same time. Both wrote military romances. The American became a best-selling author of the first 20 years of the 20th century. The Englishman became a world-renowned leader who wrote his own speeches.
To the best of my knowledge neither man knew the other; they certainly never met.
And the kicker to all of this?
The American Winston Churchill was born three years before the Englishman.