Effort to find Churchill’s connections to Dundee

HISTORY: New bid to fill gaps in record of war-time leader and former city MP’s time in Scotland

A new bid to unearth Winston Churchill’s Scottish connections and his relationship with Dundee is under way.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has backed the effort to fill gaps in the record after the publication of new material dedicated to the statesman’s time north of the border.

The International Churchill Society (ICS) is among the first to collate and consider Churchill’s numerous but not always well-known connections to Scotland. The latest edition of its journal, Finest Hour, is dedicated to Churchill and Scotland with a foreword by Mr Brown.

Churchill was the Liberal MP for Dundee for 14 years. First elected in 1908, he returned to the seat four times before losing it to a Prohibitionist candidate in 1922.

The same year Churchill was elected to Dundee, he married Clementine Hozier, a granddaughter of the 10th Earl of Airlie.

Churchill said the three most important things he received from Scotland were his wife, his constituency and his regiment. During the First World War, he commanded the 6th Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front in 1916. His two leading officers were both future Scottish political leaders. Andrew Dewar Gibb, a founding member and subsequent leader of the SNP, was Churchill’s adjutant, and Archibald Sinclair, a future leader of the Liberal Party, was his second-in-command.

The ICS has now launched its appeal for new material with the aim of publishing a book on his time in Scotland.

Mr Brown said: “So much has been written about every aspect of Winston Churchill’s life it is surprising one

“Lo and behold it was right there in front of us. DAVID FREEMAN

important area – his relationship with Scotland – has commanded so little attention. That is why this set of essays in Finest Hour must start to rectify this and rescue Churchill’s Scottish connections from the condescension of posterity.”

David Freeman, editor of Finest Hour, said: “It’s so rare to find something new to say about Churchill and lo and behold it was right in front of us.

“There’s a compelling case that England’s greatest Englishman should also be a celebrated hero in Scotland.”

Winston Churchill in Dundee. The future war-time leader was MP for the city for 14 years.