by Yousuf Karsh
In office
26 October 1951 6 April 1955
George VI
Monarch
Elizabeth II
In office
10 May 1940 26 July 1945
Monarch George VI
[show]
Leadership positions
[show]
Ministerial offices 193952
[show]
Ministerial offices 190829
[show]
Constituencies represented
Personal details
30 November 1874
Woodstock, Oxfordshire, UK
Liberal (19041924)
Children Diana
Randolph
Sarah
Marigold
Mary
Jennie Jerome
Signature
Military service
Territorial Army
19151916
Rank Lieutenant-Colonel
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, PC, DL, FRS, RA (30 November
1874 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, army officer, and writer, who served
as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. As
a Member of Parliament (MP), he represented five constituencies over the course of his career.
As Prime Minister, Churchill led Britain to victory during the Second World War. He led
the Conservative Party for fifteen years from 1940 to 1955.
Churchill was born into an aristocratic family, the son of an English politician and American
socialite. Joining the British Army, he saw action in British India, the AngloSudan War, and
the Second Boer War, gaining fame as a war correspondent and writing books about his
campaigns. Moving into politics, before the First World War, he served as President of the
Board of Trade, Home Secretary, and First Lord of the Admiralty as part of Asquith's Liberal
government. During the war, Churchill departed from government following the
disastrous Gallipoli Campaign. He briefly resumed active army service on the Western Front as
a battalion commander in the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He returned to government under Lloyd
George as Minister of Munitions, Secretary of State for War, Secretary of State for Air,
then Secretary of State for the Colonies. After two years out of Parliament, he served
as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Baldwin's Conservative government of 19241929,
controversially returning the pound sterling in 1925 to the gold standard at its pre-war parity, a
move widely seen as creating deflationary pressure on the UK economy.
Out of office during the 1930s, Churchill took the lead in warning about Nazi Germany and in
campaigning for rearmament. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was again
appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following Neville Chamberlain's resignation in May 1940,
Churchill became Prime Minister. His speeches and radio broadcasts helped inspire British
resistance, especially during the difficult days of 194041 when the British Commonwealth and
Empire stood almost alone in its active opposition to Adolf Hitler. He led Britain as Prime
Minister until after the German surrender in 1945. After the Conservative Party's defeat in the
1945 general election, he became Leader of the Opposition to the Labour Government. He
publicly warned of an "Iron Curtain" of Soviet influence in Europe and promoted European
unity. He was re-elected Prime Minister in the 1951 election. His second term was preoccupied
by foreign affairs, including the Malayan Emergency, Mau Mau Uprising, Korean War, and a
UK-backed Iranian coup. Domestically his government laid great emphasis on house-building.
Churchill suffered a serious stroke in 1953 and retired as Prime Minister in 1955, although he
remained an MP until 1964. Upon his death in 1965, he was given a state funeral.
Named the