Background
Randolph Churchill was born at his parents' house at Eccleston Square, on 28 May 1911. His parents nicknamed him "the Chumbolly" before he was born.
Randolph Churchill was born at his parents' house at Eccleston Square, on 28 May 1911. His parents nicknamed him "the Chumbolly" before he was born.
Winston gave his son a choice of Eton College or Harrow School, and he chose the former.
Having served as unofficial private secretary to his father, lord lieutenant (viceroy) of Ireland from 1876 to 1880, Churchill was especially interested in the Irish problem. Though opposed to national Home Rule for Ireland, he favoured self-government on the local level and blamed shortsighted British officials for the Irish crisis of the 1880s. The majority of the Conservative Party agreed with the Liberal government’s coercion policy toward Ireland, but Lord Randolph allowed the Irish nationalists, led by Charles Stewart Parnell, to understand that the Conservatives would oppose coercion in return for Irish votes in the general election of 1885. It was said that the Liberals underwent a forced conversion to Home Rule to counteract that promise.
Throughout this period, Churchill attempted to create a new Conservatism with a truly popular appeal and to secure power for the rank-and-file constituency representatives in the party’s central organization. Older Conservative leaders, especially Robert Cecil, 3rd marquess of Salisbury, rejected his approach, and the party split in 1884 over Churchill’s election as chairman of the National Union of Conservative Associations. Lord Salisbury and Churchill both made concessions, however, and the reunited party won the vote of confidence of June 1885, Salisbury becoming prime minister. Appointed secretary of state for India, Churchill, who had attacked British imperialism in Egypt and elsewhere, ordered the Third Anglo-Burmese War (November 1885), leading to the annexation of all of Burma (Myanmar). He left office with Salisbury on February 1, 1886, after a rupture between the Conservatives and Irish nationalists led to the Conservatives’ loss of most of the votes of the Irish bloc in the House of Commons.
When the Conservatives returned to power on July 25, 1886, Salisbury appointed Churchill to the Exchequer and the Commons leadership. Evidently wishing to be the actual head of the government, Churchill alienated most of his colleagues; unable to effect a reconciliation, Salisbury waited for Churchill to defeat himself. He did so with his first budget, which, because it reduced the service estimates, was unacceptable to W.H. Smith, the secretary of state for war. On December 20, 1886, Churchill sent Salisbury his resignation contingent on the prime minister’s choice between the policies of the Exchequer and the War Office. When the prime minister backed Smith, Churchill published his resignation in The Times of London on December 23. He may have expected a popular outcry in his favour, but none was heard; since the budget struggle had been kept secret, the public considered his action pointless.
Although he remained in the House of Commons until his death, Churchill lost interest in politics and devoted much time to horse racing. His last years were tragic, a general syphilitic paresis deranging his mind and killing him slowly and painfully.
Randolph was divorced from Pamela 1946. His sister writes that after the war he led a "rampaging existence" as "he always had lances to break, and hares to start". He was loyal and affectionate, but "would pick an argument with a chair". Winston declared that he had a "deep animal love" for Randolph but that "every time we meet we seem to have a bloody row". Randolph believed that he could control his temper by willpower, but he could not do this when drunk and alcohol "fuelled his sense of thwarted destiny". His father no longer had the energy for argument, so reduced the time he spent with Randolph and how much he confided in him. Randolph maintained good written relations with his mother, but she could not stand arguments and often retreated to her room when he visited. She was able to help him out of his financial difficulties, which he acknowledged "spared him much humiliation".
As Winston Churchill's relations with his son cooled, he lavished affection on a series of surrogate sons, including Brendan Bracken and Randolph's brothers-in-law Duncan Sandys and, from 1947, Christopher Soames, as well to a certain extent Anthony Eden, all of whom Randolph loathed. He had still not entirely abandoned his youthful fantasy of one day becoming Prime Minister, and resented Eden's position as his father's political heir. Randolph used to refer to Eden as "Jerk Eden".