The Family Man and Writer in the 1930s

Abstract

DURING THESE YEARS Churchill spent as much time as possible at Chartwell, which he had bought in 1922 when it had been long uninhabited and was, as one of his daughters has written, “wildly overgrown and untidy, and contained all the mystery of houses that had not been lived in for many years.” Although Mrs. Churchill was responsible for most of the alterations and the running of the house, its personality was very much that of Churchill, and it was, as one who knew it well has remarked, “an astonishing combination of private home, Grand Hotel, and a Government Department.” He kept a pied-à-terre in London at Morpeth Mansions, close to Westminster, but used it only occasion-ally. It was at Chartwell that his real life was spent. Here, in this surprisingly peaceful part of Kent, he built walls, created lakes, roofed cottages, painted, and wrote. He devoted intense thought and applied much energy on laying out the Chartwell grounds. Every visitor—however distinguished or sedentary—was liable to summary conscription for these enterprises, which were administered with dash and spirit. His ponds were inhabited by fat and complacent goldfish, who occupied a particularly warm place in Churchill’s affections.