Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill (52 page)

“It is no use blowing the trumpet”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 227.

“Sooner or later”
: Winston Churchill, “Our Account with the Boers,” CAC.

His opportunity had come
: “Conservative Fete at Woodstock,”
Oxford Journal
, Aug. 19, 1899.

“Inspired possibly by memories”
:
Manchester Evening News
, Aug. 18, 1899.

“very great power”
: “Conservative Fete at Woodstock.”

“If he would encourage”
:
Manchester Evening News
, Aug. 18, 1899.

“The atmosphere”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 229.

“The Government must press”
: “The Ultimatum: Full Official Text,”
Diamond Fields Advertiser
, Oct. 12, 1899.

After reading the telegram
: Marie de Souza, diary, Oct. 11, 1899, courtesy of Jonathan de Souza.

“The age of Peace”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 75.

CHAPTER 5: “SEND HER VICTORIOUS”

Since early that morning
:
London Daily News
, Oct. 16, 1899.

Waterloo Station, where he had been given a grand send-off
: Ibid.

When Buller’s special five-car train
: Ibid.

Those who had resorted to sitting
:
Lancashire Evening Post
, Oct. 16, 1899.

A rope that had been strung
:
London Daily News
, Oct. 16, 1899.

Although dressed for the chill, early autumn air
:
Yorkshire Evening Post
, Oct. 16, 1899;
London Daily News
, Oct. 16, 1899.

The ship itself had arrived
:
Dundee Courier
, Oct. 16, 1899.

The
Dunottar Castle
could sail
:
London Daily News
, Oct. 16, 1899.

“worse than a flogging”
: Gilbert,
Churchill: A Life
, 101.

“with the chance of being drowned”
: Randolph S. Churchill,
Youth
, 454.

At 6
:00 p.m., with the final cry: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 7.

As Buller stood on the captain’s deck
:
Yorkshire Evening Post
, Oct. 16, 1899.

“back towards the shores”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 7.

Inside his stitched brown leather wallet
: Photographs and information about them and the wallet from the Churchill Archives Centre.

“I was introduced yesterday”
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, Nov. 4, 1896, CAC.

“the brightest star”
: “Society News and Gossip,”
New York Times
, Feb. 26, 1905.

“You dare not walk”
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, Nov. 4, 1896, CAC.

“very much impressed”
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, May 3, 1899, CAC.

“I quite understand”
: WSC to Plowden, June 28, 1899, CAC.

In an attempt to make up
: WSC to Plowden, Nov. 28, 1898, CAC.

“Why do you say I am incapable”
: Ibid.

“I am lonely without her”
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, Sept. 3, 1899, CAC.

“while not madly in love”
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, Aug. 22, 1899, in Churchill and Gilbert,
Churchill Documents
, 2:1043.

“Jack dined with me last night”
: George to Lady Randolph Churchill, Aug. 24, 1899, CAC.

On September 18, nearly a month
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, Sept. 18, 1899, in Churchill and Gilbert,
Churchill Documents
, 2:1049.

As soon as he received Harmsworth’s telegram
: Ibid.

Responding immediately
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 230.

Not only would more journalists
: National Army Museum, London.

Edgar Wallace
: National Army Museum, London.

Kipling would also raise £250,000
: National Army Museum, London.

“exceedingly brilliant”
:
Evening News Post
, Dec. 6, 1899.

“the greatest living master”
:
Times
, Feb. 15, 1927, quoted in “Finest of the Empire,”
Finest Hour
(Summer 2012): 25.

“faith in my pen”
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, April 25, 1898.

“an astonishing triumph”
:
Daily Mail
, Nov. 7, 1899, quoted in Randolph S. Churchill,
Youth
, 457.

“My literary talents”
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, April 25, 1898, CAC.

He had gone shopping
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, Sept. 18, 1899, in Churchill and Gilbert,
Churchill Documents
, 2:1049.

At the famous optical shop
: Randolph S. Churchill,
Youth
, 453.

“grievously sick”
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, Oct. 17, 1899, in Churchill and Gilbert,
Churchill Documents
, 2:1055.

Buller could usually be found
: Details taken from a sketch that appeared in the
Illustrated London News
, Oct. 1899.

“v[er]y amiable”
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, Oct. 17, 1899, in Churchill and Gilbert,
Churchill Documents
, 2:1055.

“a characteristic British personality”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 234.

“The idea that time”
: Ibid., 235.

“may well be too late”
: Ibid., 231.

“infatuated step”
: Quoted in Pakenham,
Scramble for Africa
, 567.

“healthy and amusing”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 8–9.

“Some of our best officers”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 235.

So certain were they
: Amery,
My Political Life
, 119.

Even now, their enemy faced
: Randolph S. Churchill,
Youth
, 456.

“Evidently the General expects”
: WSC to Lady Randolph Churchill, Oct. 17, 1899, in Churchill and Gilbert,
Churchill Documents
, 2:1055.

“violently to and fro”
: Winston Churchill,
London to Ladysmith
, 9.

“plunging…‘with neck out-thrust’ ”
: Atkins,
Incidents and Reflections
, 122.

“knew everything about South Africa”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 231–32.

“talked Boer”
: Pakenham,
Boer War
, 117.

“The Army at large”
:
Daily Telegraph
, Oct. 9, 1899.

“Whatever the estimate”
: Amery,
Times History of the War in South Africa
, 2:42.

“Personally, I don’t believe”
: Quoted in Pakenham,
Boer War
, 118.

CHAPTER 6: “WE HAVE NOW GONE FAR ENOUGH”

When he left for war, a Boer
: Hillegas,
With the Boer Forces
, 37–38.

The home of the president
: Pakenham,
Boer War
, 121.

“it was magnificent to see”
: Reitz,
Commando
, 23.

In particular, the Boers had been amassing
: National Army Museum, London.

In 1895 alone, the Boers bought
: Amery,
Times History of the War in South Africa
, 2:28.

The following year, the secretary
: Francis de Souza,
A Question of Treason
, 40.

“the finest mass of rifle-armed horsemen”
: Winston Churchill,
My Early Life
, 96.

“stagger humanity”
: Quoted in Pakenham,
Scramble for Africa
, 569.

He could trace his family
: There is some disagreement about Botha’s ancestry, with some sources saying that he was German rather than Huguenot.

So infuriated were the Huguenots
: Spender,
General Botha
, 14.

“In their manner of life”
: Amery,
Times History of the War in South Africa
, 1:25.

Great Karoo
: The word “karoo” probably comes from the San word
garo
, which also means “desert.”

It was here, about halfway
: Spender,
General Botha
, 16.

He grew up in a family
: Trew,
Boer War Generals
, 137.

Louis himself had fought
: Dinuzulu had promised Botha and his men land in return for their help, giving them more than four thousand square miles of Zulu land. More than twenty years later, in 1906, Dinuzulu would be imprisoned by the British for his involvement in a rebellion. As soon as Botha became prime minister in 1910, he released Dinuzulu and granted him a farm in the Transvaal.

In fact, Botha had nearly been killed
: Meintjes,
General Louis Botha
, 14. Few men, in fact, would have been more affected had Botha been killed that night than Dinuzulu himself, who had formed so strong a friendship with Botha that it would last until Dinuzulu’s death nearly thirty years later.

When tensions with the British
:
Liverpool Mercury
, Oct. 11, 1899.