Porcelain bust of Churchill by Kevin Francis Ceramics in Staffordshire, SIR WINSTON England. CHURCHILL: PORTRAIT IN MINIATURES Text and Photos: James H. Hillestad James H. Hillestad pens a profile of the British prime minister illustrated with personality figures and complementary collectibles ir Winston Churchill’s life has been the British India’s North-West Second Anglo-Boer War. subject of countless books, articles and Frontier in 1897. The following He was captured after Boers films. Churchillian societies flourish year he took part in the fabled ambushed and derailed a worldwide, paying homage to his abilities charge of the 21st Lancers during British armored train in 1899. and accomplishments. the Battle of Omdurman, Sudan. Churchill made a daring Born in 1874 at Blenheim Palace in Churchill served as a war escape from imprisonment in SOxfordshire, England, he was a direct descendant correspondent during the Pretoria. Aided by an English of the first Duke of Marlborough. Churchill’s mother, the former Jennie Jerome, was the daughter an American millionaire. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a prominent Tory politician. MILITARY MAN & POLITICIAN Winston Churchill was graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. The second lieutenant joined the 4th Hussars in 1895. He served with the Malakand Field Force on W. Britain set portraying Sir Winston and Lady Churchill riding in the Prime Minister’s Coach at the 1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. AeroArt St. Petersburg Collection set of the “Big Three” of the WWII Allies at the 1943 Teheran Portrait bust of the British prime minister sculpted by Oscar Nemon. This Conference. The figures depict Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and statue stands in Churchill Park, Copenhagen, Denmark. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (from left). 20 | TOY SOLDIER & MODEL FIGURE Toy soldiers that once belonged to the British prime minister are on display at the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms in London. The 48-mm figures are believed to have been made in Germany. (Photo Courtesy of Chartwell) CHURCHILL & TOY SOLDIERS IT IS WIDELY KNOWN that John George Vanderbilt ultimately 1,500. My brother Jack commanded Sir Winston Churchill was Spencer-Churchill, who was 9 the hostile army.” fond of toy soldiers. years old at the time. On display now at the Churchill Museum At his ancestral home at What do we know of and Cabinet War Rooms in London is a Blenheim Palace in Churchill’s personal boyhood collection of toy soldiers (44 cavalry and 53 Oxfordshire, England, is a collection? foot figures). They were once Churchill’s and magnificent display of 780 In his official biography of are now owned by Chartwell, the prime figures made by the French Churchill, Martin Gilbert noted minister’s country house in Kent that is now firm Lucotte. The popular at age 7 (in 1881) Churchill had under the administration of the National Trust. belief has been that this was Churchill’s toy soldier collection. Whether these figures were from his Not so. The figures were childhood is open to conjecture. But what owned by artist Paul Maze, a friend of Churchill’s in is certain is that Churchill was a passionate London. Maze had been given collector of toy soldiers. them by his father, who started the collection in the early 1890s. a collection of soldiers nearly These 48-mm figures are most likely German- When visiting Maze, “1,000 strong which he would made, though the maker has not been Churchill would delight in range in line of battle on the identified. rearranging the figures to his nursery floor.” Henry Kurtz, author of “The Art of the Toy satisfaction. The following year, Churchill Soldier,” wrote, “In the early 1880s there was In 1935, Maze and mentions playing with his not one commercial maker of lead soldiers in Churchill were going to spend collection “making the whole of the British Isles. The toy soldiers Christmas at Blenheim engagements,” and states in a that formed young Winston’s miniature army Palace. Churchill suggested letter of thanks to his mother were almost certainly imported from Germany.” that Maze bring with him the how much he likes his Whether these figures were from his entire army. Not only did “soldiers, flags, and castle” childhood is open to conjecture. But what is Maze do so, he made a gift of (Churchill Archives Centre). certain is that Churchill was a passionate the collection to the present In his book, “My Early Life,” collector of toy soldiers. 11th Duke of Marlborough, Churchill wrote, “I had --James H. Hillestad mine manager, he managed to trek nearly 300 miles to PROLIFIC WRITER & ARTIST Portuguese Lourenço Marques Dry biographical facts do not (Maputo) in what is now describe the scope of the man. Mozambique. Churchill Churchill was a journalist, returned to England a hero. soldier, politician, great orator, Churchill’s subsequent talented painter and stylish political rise was swift: elected writer. to Parliament in 1900; home He was awarded the Nobel secretary in 1910; and first lord Prize in Literature in 1953 “for of the Admiralty in 1911. He his mastery of historical and became prime minister in 1940, biographical description as shepherding the British people well as for brilliant oratory in to victory against the Axis defending exalted human juggernaut during World War II. values.” Churchill was defeated in “In the Footsteps of the general election of 1945. Churchill” author Richard But he rebounded in 1951 and Holmes wrote, “He was neither remained in office as prime wholly good nor wholly bad, as minister until 1955. He died completely right about as often WWII souvenir matchbox with in 1965. as he was hopelessly wrong, portraits of the Allied “Big Three.” TOY SOLDIER & MODEL FIGURE | 21 Little Lead Soldiers figures of Churchill, Queen Elizabeth and King George VI inspecting damage from German bombs during the WWII London Blitz. Churchill with a tommy First Lord of Churchill the war gun “Propaganda Pose” Cigar-puffing the Admiralty correspondent by the by The Armoury of St. Churchill by Churchill by Fusilier Quartermaster Corps. James’s. Alymer. Miniatures. I like pigs: cats look down on human beings, dogs look up to them, but pigs just treat us as their equals. --Winston Churchill and the occasional frail raft of quiet humility was swamped by CHURCHILL TRIVIA QUESTION his raging ego.” Q: What do Winston It might surprise some Churchill, Helen Keller, Joan readers that while Churchill of Arc, Babe Ruth and Bill loved military uniforms, he was Gates have in common? the antithesis of a militarist. In A: They are all left-handed. 1959, he coined the phrase “to Figure of Prime Minister Winston Churchill by King & Country Ltd. jaw-jaw is better than to war- war.” meet Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and discuss war plans. When told he would have to ENJOYED CIGARS & BRANDY wear a special oxygen mask, Churchill was notorious for his Churchill asked that it be enjoyment of cigars and alcohol. adapted so that he could enjoy In 1942, he was scheduled a cigar en route -- and it was! to fly in an unpressurized Referring to his accustomed American Liberator bomber to glass of brandy, he observed, Churchill charging at Omdurman by Trophy Miniatures of Wales Ltd. Churchill commemorative plate. SOURCES • National Trust, Chartwell • Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms • Churchill Archives Centre • Blenheim Palace Archives • Finest Hour Editor Richard M. Langworth • Edward W. Fitzgerald, a founding member of the Churchill Centre 22 | TOY SOLDIER & MODEL FIGURE WWI newspaper van by Lledo. Red Box figure of Churchill painting at Chartwell. “I neither want it nor need it, but I should think it member of Parliament in the pretty hazardous to interfere with the ineradicable House of Commons, follows: ABOUT THE WRITER habit of a lifetime.” Astor: “If I were your wife, I James H. Hillestad is the proprietor would put poison in your of The Toy Soldier Museum in coffee.” Cresco, Pa., USA. For more GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR Churchill: “Nancy, if I were information about the museum Boundless, often mischievous, humor was your husband, I would drink it.” and shop, visit his Website Churchill’s trademark. In the early 1930s, Churchill at www.the-toy-soldier.com. Examples include his exchange of telegrams attended an American football with playwright George Bernard Shaw as follows: game. Asked what he thought Shaw: “Two tickets reserved for you, first night of it, he replied: friend who makes no undue `Pygmalion.’ Bring a friend. If you have one.” “Actually it is somewhat like demands. Happy are the Churchill: “Cannot make first night. Will come rugby. But why do you have all painters, for they shall not be to second. If you have one.” these committee meetings?” lonely. Light and colour, peace Another exchange with the argumentative and hope, will keep them Lady Nancy Astor, the first woman to serve as a company to the end.” GREAT MAN IN MINIATURE Given Churchill’s dynamic role in history, it is no wonder that he has been a popular subject for makers of painted metal military miniatures. He has been depicted in the Sudan, South Africa, World Wars I and II, and at Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation in 1953. He has even been portrayed at leisure painting the landscape at Chartwell, his Churchill figure country house in Kent. made by Martin Special U.S. postal issue from 1991 As for the latter pastime, Ritchie. celebrating Lend-Lease, the program under which the United States supplied Great Britain with war materiel in return for military bases. Churchill wrote, “Painting is a Churchill on the armored train during the Boer War by Trophy Miniatures of Wales Ltd.