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While Winston Churchill’s interest in Ireland waxed and waned throughout his political career, it would not be inaccurate to view him as a crucial figure in the shaping of the island's politics in the twentieth century. Consequently, the Churchill papers are, in this observer’s view, the single most important collection of private papers for twentieth century Ireland held in Britain. Indeed, the Churchill family, since its emergence in the late seventeenth century as one of the most important politico-military dynasties in Britain, has had a long and ambiguous, if irregular, relationship with Ireland – England’s oldest and, perhaps, most reluctant imperial possession dating back to the 17th Century. More recently, Winston’s grandfather, the seventh Duke of Marlborough was viceroy of Ireland (1876-1880) and married into one of Ireland’s most important aristocratic families: the Londonderrys. [ 1 ]
The duke’s son and Winston’s father, Lord Randolph Churchill, accompanied him as his secretary and Winston spent from age of two to five living in Dublin. Randolph blackened the Churchill name, perhaps irrevocably, in nationalist Ireland by supporting Ulster Protestant resistance to Home Rule in 1886 which he described as ‘playing the Orange Card’. Randolph’s actions helped defeat William Ewart Gladstone’s first Home Rule Bill and inaugurated two decades of Conservative and Unionist political dominance in Britain. [ 2 ]
It would be true to say that Winston Churchill aroused antipathy in nationalist Ireland. [ 3 ]
To his Irish critics, Churchill demonstrated one of his characteristic traits when it came to Ireland: inconsistency. At various stages, Churchill was anti-home rule, pro-home rule, and rhetorically extravagant in threatening Ulster with force as it armed itself to fight the third Home Rule Bill just before WWI. However, he was also among the first in the Liberal government before WWI to acknowledge that unionist opinion in the north of Ireland had to be considered, even if this meant dividing Ireland. After the Irish Treaty of 1921, which granted limited Irish independence to the southern twenty-six counties of the island, Churchill would sometimes, arguably far more than any other British leader of the twentieth century, express support for the end of partition but made it clear that the Ulster Unionist government in Northern Ireland could not be coerced. He viewed Irish independence benignly at times but was then angered, and puzzled, by Eamon de Valera’s adherence to neutrality during the Second World War. Churchill had many Irish friends and family who would have influenced his attitudes to Ireland. His grandmother was a Londonderry, and his mother’s sisters had Irish marriages. Leonie, Lady Leslie (née Leonie Jerome), married Sir John Leslie (1857–1944), an Irish aristocrat and unionist with a huge estate in County Monaghan. Their son, Shane Leslie, became an ardent Irish nationalist. There are dozens of his letters scattered throughout the archive covering politics, family and literary endeavours from 1903 to the 1960s. Jennie’s other sister Clara Jerome married Moreton Frewen, an Englishman who inherited an Irish estate, and was (improbably) an Irish nationalist MP (1910-11) for a Cork constituency. From the 1920s, one of his closest confidants was Brendan Bracken, Irish born, who had managed to establish himself in English society and Conservative politics. [ 4 ]
The Sligo born Irish American politician Bourke Cockran, who had a distinctly Irish nationalist viewpoint was a significant influence on Churchill’s Irish attitudes, as well as his political and rhetorical style. [ 5 ]
Furthermore, in the 1920s, the notoriously spendthrift Churchill inherited from a branch of the Londonderry family an Irish estate which facilitated the purchase of Chartwell. [ 6 ]
Ireland was also an important subject in Churchill’s literary output. He wrote extensively about Ireland in his books, particularly Lord Randolph Churchill, The World Crisis: the Aftermath and The History of the English-speaking peoples. [ 7 ]
A glaring exception is his account of the Second World War, where political sensitivities prevented him discussing Ireland very much. While he gave Ireland much attention, the treatment of Churchill and Ireland by his biographers is frequently cursory. For many years there was only one volume, Mary Bromage’s 1964 book, devoted to the subject of Churchill and Ireland. [ 8 ]
Recently, there has been much more work which has somewhat remedied this neglect. [ 9 ]
When Winston first became a Conservative MP, he firmly opposed Irish home rule. Within a few years, he crossed the floor to the Liberal party, and, to his critics, he now cynically embraced Irish home rule. He rapidly rose up the ranks of British politics – junior minister, Home Secretary and first Lord of the Admiralty. In this last post, in the couple of years before the First World War he found himself close to of one of the great political controversies of the time – the violent dispute over the third home rule Bill. The Conservative party played the Orange card – the use of Ulster Unionism’s violent opposition - to frustrate Irish Home Rule- to the hilt. When the leader of Ulster Unionism, Edward Carson, established a Unionist militia, many in the Conservative leadership made it clear that they would support sedition against a Liberal government that they convinced themselves was illegitimate. Churchill, again according to his critics, was two-faced on the issue. On the one hand, he stridently and publicly supported home rule, and visited Belfast in support of it, much to the chagrin of Ulster unionists. [ 10 ]
At one point in 1914 he threatened Belfast with the Royal Navy, sparking rumours that he was planning a “pogrom’ against Ulster Protestants. But behind the scenes he was, to an Irish nationalist, plotting treachery. Churchill was an early advocate in the Liberal government for special treatment for Ulster, a view embraced by many of his colleagues. He concluded exclusion, what we now call partition, for the north-east of Ireland was necessary for Home Rule to be achieved in the rest of Ireland. [ 11 ]
But attempts at compromise were not sufficient for Ulster Unionists and also alienated Irish nationalists. It looked like Ireland and Britain itself were on the verge of civil war with dissent in the British army becoming apparent. British Army officers, based at the Curragh army base near Dublin, made clear in 1914 that they would not march on Ulster. As the situation deteriorated, Britain was suddenly at war with Germany in August 1914. The Home Rule crisis went on the backburner. It would be fair to say that Churchill did not have a good First World War. When his ambitious attempt to knock Turkey out of the war ended in the Gallipoli disaster, the Conservative party, who reviled him as a turncoat and an advocate of suppressing Ulster, took the opportunity to force him from office. The Gallipoli debacle also made waves in Ireland where horrific Irish casualties added to a mounting dis-enchantment with the war in nationalist Ireland. When rebellion broke out in Dublin in East-er 1916, Churchill was serving temporarily in the British Army on the Western Front. He avoided having to take responsibility for the executions of the rebel leaders and the draconi-an crackdown in its aftermath. In 1917, Churchill returned to government as the Minister of Munitions. He supported the proposed introduction of conscription into Ireland, which fin-ished the prospects of moderate Irish nationalists. [ 12 ]
Instead, it was supporters of the 1916 uprising that won a landslide of Irish seats in Decem-ber 1918. [ 13 ]
Roughly three quarters of Ireland’s parliamentary seats were now held by the Sinn Fein party led by Eamon de Valera. Sinn Fein demanded complete Irish independence, refused to take their seats in the House of Commons or acknowledge British rule in Ireland. Civil disobedi-ence and a growing number of ad-hoc and planned political assassinations by the Irish Re-publican Army, the military wing of Sinn Fein, culminated from the summer of 1920 to the summer of 1921 in more organized guerrilla warfare. The British responded with martial law and increasing state violence from Crown forces. The north-east of Ireland, [ 14 ]
At a minimum, the British Cabinet and Churchill were determined that Ireland should re-main within the British Empire, even if the southern three quarters of Ireland would receive far greater autonomy than had ever been contemplated under plans for home rule. There was little contact with the Sinn Fein leadership. Churchill must bear his share of culpability for this, though he was an early advocate for a truce that was agreed in July 1921. The extent of Churchill’s role in the Anglo-Irish Treaty has been debated by historians, particularly the nature of his relationship with the Irish delegate, Michael Collins, who would lead the Provisional Government after the narrow ratification of the Treaty in January 1922 by the Irish parliament. (The Sinn Fein leader Eamon de Valera rejected the deal and the movement split.) In the aftermath of the Treaty’s ratification, Churchill reached the peak of his influence in Ireland. As Colonial Secretary he sought to ensure that the Irish Treaty, bitterly opposed by reactionary Tories and Irish republicans, did not bring down the government. [ 15 ]
At a minimum, the British Cabinet and Churchill were determined that Ireland should re-main within the British Empire, even if the southern three quarters of Ireland would receive far greater autonomy than had ever been contemplated under plans for home rule. There was little contact with the Sinn Fein leadership. Churchill must bear his share of culpability for this, though he was an early advocate for a truce that was agreed in July 1921. The extent of Churchill’s role in the Anglo-Irish Treaty has been debated by historians, particularly the nature of his relationship with the Irish delegate, Michael Collins, who would lead the Provisional Government after the narrow ratification of the Treaty in January 1922 by the Irish parliament. (The Sinn Fein leader Eamon de Valera rejected the deal and the movement split.) In the aftermath of the Treaty’s ratification, Churchill reached the peak of his influence in Ireland. As Colonial Secretary he sought to ensure that the Irish Treaty, bitterly opposed by reactionary Tories and Irish republicans, did not bring down the government. [ 16 ]
Churchill had to make certain that Michael Collins did not try to circumvent Irish obligations under the Treaty in any attempt to restore the unity of the Sinn Fein movement. His insistence that the Treaty be implemented in full limited Michael Collin’s room to compromise with those who rejected the Treaty. Forces opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty, seized public buildings in Dublin, and rejected the authority of the Collins’ Irish provisional government. Churchill also helped the Northern Ireland government suppress an Irish nationalist insurgency with money, guns and occasionally British troops. By the spring of 1922, Ireland was on the verge of civil war and it is Churchill’s role in its outbreak that is controversial. When Sir Henry Wilson, a former head of the British army, and now the military adviser to the Northern Ireland government was killed in June 1922 in London by two IRA assassins, Churchill made plans to either force the Provisional Government in Ireland to drive the Anti-Treaty side out of buildings it had occupied in Dublin or deploy the British army to do so. The Provisional Government acted against the Anti-Treaty side though there is no definitive answer as to whether this was due to Churchill’s pressure or at their own behest. Their forces quickly regained control of Dublin and By the middle of August 1922, the Provisional Government had retaken all the major towns in Ireland. The most important Irish signatories of Treaty in August 1922 were dead. Collins had been killed in an ambush, and Arthur Griffith had died from natural causes. Throughout the Civil War, which now became a grim guerrilla conflict, Churchill supplied the Irish Free State government with the armaments that allowed them to prevail by April 1923. He also provided key support to the Northern Ireland government. In doing so, it is plausible to say that Churchill saved both the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. [ 17 ]
The events of the Civil War, forever, coloured Eamon de Valera and Churchill’s views of one another. Neither new state was acceptable to a considerable swathe of Irish nationalism who were committed to republicanism and the ending of partition. When the Lloyd George Coalition fell, Churchill lost his seat. Once more his career seemed to be over. He switched parties again back to the Conservatives, made clear to his new party his new soundness on Irish questions [ 18 ]
and was made Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1924 to 1929. There was one further be-trayal of Ireland according to Churchill’s Irish nationalist critics. This was the boundary commission of 1925, which instead of awarding substantial areas of Northern Ireland with Catholic majorities to the Irish Free State, confirmed the existing frontier to the chagrin of nationalists on both sides of the Irish border. [ 19 ]
The outrage in nationalist Ireland aided the political comeback of Éamon de Valera, whose Fianna Fáil party won the 1932 Irish election. Churchill recognised de Valera was deter-mined to get rid of much of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty. In a parliamentary speech in 1932, he warned about the implications of de Valera’s demand for an independent republic. Churchill rarely returned to the Irish issue until 1938. [ 20 ]
De Valera, in this period, slowly removed aspects of the treaty such as eliminating the oath of allegiance and references to the Crown from the Irish constitution. Under the Anglo-Irish agreement of 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain agreed to return three naval bases “the treaty ports” to Ireland. Churchill railed against the decision. He stressed the strategic importance of these naval bases during any future European war. But his views did not at-tract much support. [ 21 ]
Most MPs favoured ending the political, constitutional and economic disputes that had dog-ged Anglo-Irish relations since 1932 and the Royal Navy had more important spending prior-ities than modernizing these crumbling naval bases, which would not be much use without Irish cooperation. [ 22 ]
When Churchill returned as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1939, he focused on Irish ports and neutrality which he found hard to accept. [ 23 ]
He did not seem to understand that Irish neutrality was driven by practical considerations: a wish to stay out of British conflicts, the bitterness engendered by British tactics in 1920-1921, the dread of another civil war, and the absence of air defences. Also, by 1939, Ireland's Commonwealth links had faded considerably. In June 1940, after the fall of France, Churchill, now Prime Minister, revisited the Irish ports issue. In fact, the fall of France, and German submarine and naval bases in Brittany and Normandy meant that the Irish bases which defended the southern approaches to the British Isles were no longer as useful. It was Northern Ireland, and its command of the northern approaches, far from German submarines and naval power, that was vital to British sea communications. Churchill remained apprehensive about Irish neutrality. On the advice of some of his Cabinet, Churchill agreed that it should be proposed to end partition to bring Ireland into the war. He sent the minister Malcolm MacDonald, who was highly respected by de Valera, to Dublin in early June 1940 with a somewhat sketchy scheme for reunification. De Valera responded with a far-fetched call for the speedy end of partition and neutrality for the entire island, which MacDonald dismissed. [ 24 ]
Notwithstanding additional, more concrete offers, de Valera and his Cabinet, which had pro-British and pro-German factions, refused to join the war. Many of the Irish leadership, including de Valera, were sceptical that Britain would win the war. [ 25 ]
Churchill would make another – somewhat excitable – apparent offer of Irish unity when the United States entered the war. He cabled de Valera, "Now is your chance. Now or never. ‘A Nation once again’". [ 26 ]
The Irish Premier did not take the message very seriously. Fundamentally, Churchill envisaged Irish unity as only being possible in the context of the island being a dominion closely allied to Britain. Eamon de Valera, and much of Irish opinion, believed that complete sovereignty and freedom from Britain were always more important than Irish unity. The more serious 1940 offer was not mentioned in Churchill’s The Second World War. [ 27 ]
It was too sensitive for the publics of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Britain to be let in on the secret until 1969. There is no reference to it in the Churchill papers. Indeed, there is not a huge amount of material relating to Ireland in the papers on the Second World War. [ 28 ]
The Cabinet Office, who vetted the memoirs, and what Churchill was able to claim as his own papers, no doubt weeded this type of material. There was one final Anglo-Irish crisis. In an act of diplomatic folly, de Valera, who had enjoyed a good relationship with the German diplomat Eduard Hempel, signed the book of condolences on Hitler’s death, leading to Churchill’s Victory Broadcast on 13 May 1945, which included a stinging attack on de Valera and Irish neutrality. [ 29 ]
While Churchill’s outrage was understandable, the sharp criticism backfired when de Valera responded with his own famous and well-judged broadcast, noting how Ireland had stood alone through centuries of English aggression. De Valera’s speech was widely acclaimed at home and turned what should have been a domestic political disaster into a triumph, though on balance the whole affair damaged the Irish leader’s reputation abroad. [ 30 ]
Churchill later regretted the speech. [ 31 ]
Indeed, he would have a meeting, at last, with de Valera in 1954. Afterwards, Churchill told Lord Moran, his doctor, that it had been a ‘very agreeable occasion’, and he liked de Valera. There was no meeting of minds on partition, however, which Churchill made clear would continue as long as the majority of people in Northern Ireland favoured it. [ 32 ]
For all, the cordiality of the 1953 meeting, de Valera, provided a notably mealy-mouthed tribute to Churchill upon his death in 1965: 'Sir Winston Churchill was a great Englishman.... But we in Ireland had to regard Sir Winston over a long period as a dangerous adversary’. [ 33 ]
There are numerous sources relating to Churchill and Ireland in the Churchill Archive. The prefix "CHAR" refers to documents produced before 1945, and the prefix "CHUR" refers to documents produced after. See also the contextual essay.
CHAR 28/5 Acquired Papers:: Letters and telegrams from Lord Randolph Churchill to Lady Randolph Churchill contain some material on Ireland from the 1870s mainly, often of a social nature but with occasional political material, including references to Home Rule.
WSC’s correspondence with his mother contains numerous references to Irish Home Rule. Notably, the first reflection of WSC on Home Rule (dismissive) that can be identified in the archive is CHAR 28/22:, a letter from WSC (Trimulgherry, Deccan [India]) to "Mamma" [Lady Randolph Churchill], dated 04 Nov [1896]. See also CHAR 28/23, CHAR 28/23/31-33A, a letter from WSC (Bangalore [India]) to "Mamma" [Lady Randolph Churchill], dated 6 April 1897.
For his opposition to Irish Home Rule and how this complicates his decision to join the Liberals, see the correspondence in CHAR 2/10 with Sir Charles Trevelyan and A.E. Skeen from December 1903. Also, refer to CHAR 2/15, specifically CHAR 2/15/92, a letter from WSC to Arthur Balfour, dated 2 Feb 1904, reiterating his opposition to Irish Home Rule but indicating a move away from the Conservative Party over protectionism.
In November 1909, a letter from John Redmond to John Morley regarding Home Rule, copied to Churchill, can be found in CHAR 12. WSC's Home Office Correspondence files contain material related to Irish Home Rule scattered throughout, including correspondence with ministers such as H.H. Asquith. Home Rule becomes an increasingly frequent subject in his correspondence from 1912 onwards. The following are especially important: CHAR 2/56, CHAR 2/59, CHAR 2/60 (Public and Political: General: Home Rule; Belfast meeting: Correspondence and papers, Jan 1912 – 13 Feb 1912), an important source for the Belfast visit. CHAR 2/59 is richer as it contains more correspondence, while CHAR 2/60 has many newspaper clippings. CHAR 2/61 (Public and Political: General: Home Rule: Correspondence and passbooks) and CHAR 2/62, CHAR 2/63 contain particularly important material on WSC's developing views on Ulster and its exclusion from the operation of Home Rule. The first use of the term ‘exclusion’ occurs in CHAR 2/62/65. CHAR 13/5 (Official: Admiralty: Letterbook) includes public and political letters by WSC between 21 Dec 1911 and 28 Oct 1914.
After 1914, references to Home Rule diminish substantially. See CHAR 2/103/12 during the 1918 conscription crisis, and CHAR 2/111/96 for an exchange with the Catholic Archbishop of Tuam in December 1920, the final use of the term in relation to Ireland.
The most important material from 1919-21 is found in CHAR 16/59 (Official: War and Air: telegrams on Ireland). There are also references to Ireland, including correspondence with Lord French (Irish Lord Lieutenant), such as CHAR 2/110/78 (a letter from Lord French, 27 Jul 1920). French hoped that WSC's views would "prevail, for by such measures alone shall we be able to save Ireland." CHAR 22/2 has some material on the 1920 Government of Ireland Bill. WSC chaired the Cabinet’s Irish Committee. These papers are in CHAR 22/11 through CHAR 22/14 and are probably the most important collection of Irish papers in the Churchill papers. These files contain substantive material and correspondence on Churchill, the British government, and the Anglo-Irish relationship in the aftermath of the Irish Treaty throughout 1922.
See CHAR 2/570 Public and Political: General: Ulster Boundary.
On the 1938 Anglo-Irish Agreement, which saw the handover of the Irish ports, see CHAR 2/347. There is some limited wartime material on the ports: CHAR 19/4/25-28, such as "The Need for Berehaven [Ireland]" by Deputy Chief of Naval Staff [Rear-Admiral Tom Phillips], with an attached note by WSC, 18 Oct 1939. As noted above, the references to Irish neutrality are rather sparse. There is nothing on the June 1940 “offer of unity.” The December 1941 correspondence and talks after Pearl Harbor, including "Now is your chance. Now or never. 'A nation once again.' Am ready to meet you at any time" from WSC to Eamon de Valera, can be found at CHAR 20/46.
Lord Northcliffe, formerly Alfred Harmsworth, (1865-1922), the greatest press magnate of his day, born in Dublin (1865-1922), is represented in CHAR 28/117/1 to CHAR 28/117/185. An especially interesting April 1914 letter on Irish affairs is found in CHAR 28/117/127.
Edward Henry Carson, Baron Carson, (1854-1935), the leader of pre-1914 Ulster Unionist resistance to Home Rule, has 60 mentions in the Churchill papers, though most of the correspondence with Churchill dates from after 1917. Until the First World War, he was a political enemy, but relations improved. For example, CHAR 2/134 contains warm correspondence from the 1920s on political matters, pointing to Churchill's embrace of more reactionary politics in the interwar years. Correspondence with another Unionist leader, James Craig, is sparser.
Brendan Bracken. There are 360 references to Bracken in the Churchill papers. The first reference is a letter between the two in CHAR 1/172/56, regarding Bracken’s eye problems in December 1924. Bracken became a constant correspondent with Churchill, frequently asking his advice on business matters. See CHAR 2/180B/134, CHAR 1/398A/56, and CHAR 2/186/23 for interesting examples. Bracken was also Minister for Information for much of WWII. See CHAR 2/62/62-64 for examples.
Michael Collins (1890-1922): CHAR 22/11 through CHAR 22/14 (Official: Cabinet: Irish Committee of 1922) contains the bulk of WSC’s correspondence and cooperation with Collins. See also CHAR 2/570, Lionel Curtis on peace talks and Michael Collins; CHAR 9/65A-B for WSC speeches on Ireland in 1922, including references to Collins. Also of interest is CHAR 22/9 (Official: Cabinet: Irish Committee: Report on Irish Intelligence) covering the activities of the IRA and Michael Collins, May 1920 - Jul 1921. For Collins in WSC’s writings, see CHAR 8/217, CHAR 8/218, CHAR 8/241, CHAR 8/242 (Literary: Various correspondence about corrections to and research for WSC's book "The Aftermath" [Volume 4 of "The World Crisis"]) and CHAR 8/501 on his 1934 articles "How We Made the Irish Treaty" in defense of the Irish Settlement [1922] and WSC's meetings with Michael Collins.
Eamon de Valera (1882-1975): There is much rich material on CHAR 22/8 Official: Cabinet Irish Committee (1921). CHAR 22/11 through CHAR 22/14 (Official: Cabinet: Irish Committee of 1922). De Valera also features in the correspondence surrounding the publication of “The Aftermath”. See CHAR 8/217, CHAR 8/222. CHAR2/589 Public and Political: General: Irish affairs from 1932 has WSC’s reactions to de Valera coming to office in the Irish Free State. There is also interesting material regarding de Valera and Irish affairs from 1935 in CHAR2/235. See also the note on Irish neutrality above.
Churchill’s Irish Relatives
Lord Londonderry (Charles Stewart Henry Vane Tempest, seventh Marquess of Londonderry) (1878-1949) was Churchill’s cousin by virtue of Churchill’s paternal grandmother, Lady Frances Anne Emily (1822–1899), daughter of Charles William Vane, third Marquess of Londonderry. The 7th Lord Londonderry and his wife, Lady Edith, had a somewhat stormy relationship with Churchill. The Londonderry family held extensive landholdings in the north of England and in Co. Down, Northern Ireland (notably the Mountstewart estate), and Lord Londonderry was Minister for Education in the first Northern Ireland government. He and Churchill fell out over Home Rule, which is better covered in the Londonderry papers in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. By the 1920s, however, Londonderry enjoyed Churchill’s patronage. Churchill secured him a junior ministerial post in the Air Ministry in 1920. There is 1919-20 correspondence between them in CHAR 16/6, CHAR 16/10, CHAR 16/13, CHAR 16/47, CHAR 16/15, and CHAR 2/106. Regarding Ireland, CHAR 22/3 contains an important letter on the need for special constables for Northern Ireland, addressed to WSC in 1920. Londonderry’s move to Northern Irish politics and his appointment as Minister for Education is found in CHAR 2/115/19-20 (May 1921). Political and personal correspondence is also found in CHAR 2/125 and CHAR 2/126, which includes material on Ireland. More directly Irish-related letters are in the 1922 Irish Situation Committee files, CHAR 22/11 through CHAR 22/14. Londonderry’s return to Westminster politics features in CHAR 2/159. When Londonderry became Secretary of State for Air in 1931, there is correspondence with WSC over the strength of the Luftwaffe vis-à-vis the RAF in CHAR 2/575A-B and CHAR 2/192. On appeasement, which Londonderry supported enthusiastically, see CHAR 2/299, CHAR 2/233, CHAR 2/604 (Munich), apart from Londonderry claiming he was being treated like an "enemy alien" in December 1942 correspondence.
The Leslie Family
There is substantive correspondence between Lady Leonie Leslie (Leonie Jerome) (1859-1943) and her sister, Lady Randolph Churchill, in CHAR 28, with interesting references to Irish matters in correspondence around Ireland in 1916. Additionally, there is correspondence between WSC and the Leslie family, mainly in the 1920s and 1930s, with political commentary on Irish affairs. The Leslie estate was in County Monaghan (Irish Free State), in CHAR 28, CHAR 1/18, CHAR 1/18, CHAR 2/2, CHAR 20/3, CHAR 22/2, CHAR 28/14.
By virtue of his mother's sister's marriage to Sir John Leslie, Sir John Randolph Leslie, third Baronet (known as Shane Leslie, 1885–1971), appears in some 130 pieces of correspondence. These include a considerable number of letters to WSC's mother, Jennie. For examples, see CHAR 28/127/16-17, CHAR 28/129, and CHAR 28/130. To WSC, Shane Leslie sent some pre-WWI political correspondence in CHAR 2/45/23 and CHAR 2/46. These include a considerable number of letters to WSC's mother, Jennie. For examples, see CHAR 28/127/16-17, CHAR 28/129. To WSC, Shane Leslie sent pre-WWI political correspondence in CHAR 2/45/23 and CHAR 2/46, as well as letters about the Irish Treaty in CHAR 22/11. Additionally, there is correspondence about both WSC’s and Shane Leslie’s literary output in CHAR 2/159, CHAR 8/301, CHAR 8/308, and CHAR 8/544, where Leslie provided notes for WSC. Post-WWII correspondence is found in CHAR 1/45 and CHAR 1/46.
The Frewen Family
Moreton Frewen (1853–1924) was an Englishman, but briefly an erratic Irish nationalist MP for a Cork constituency from 1910-11. Frewen owned a substantial property in Innishannon, County Cork. He married (in 1881) the American heiress Clara Jerome (another sister of Jennie, Lady Randolph Churchill), and they had a daughter, Clare Consuelo Sheridan (née Frewen, 1885–1970), an English sculptor of portrait busts of many famous figures, including Churchill, her first cousin. An incredibly well-travelled cosmopolitan, as well as being partially educated in Ireland, she spent much of the 1950s in a convent in Galway. There is much correspondence between Clare and Lady Randolph Churchill in CHAR 28. While she fell out with WSC in the 1920s over her pro-Bolshevik views, they shared a love of art. Churchill also seems to have been concerned about her lack of money. Notably, there is lengthy correspondence about WSC sitting for a portrait bust for her in 1942 in CHAR 1/368. Other correspondence is found in with instances in brackets CHAR 1/70, CHAR 2/8, CHAR 9/2, CHAR 15/2, CHAR 20/2, CHUR 1/11, CHAR 2/13 and CHUR4/3.
