Churchill Wanted Dead or Alive

Preface

P R E F A C E Winston Churchill's heroic escapades during the Anglo-Boer War propelled him overnight onto the international stage. In 1994 I went to South Africa to research what I thought would be two or three chapters of a book I intended to write about my grandfather from 1895 to 1908. I chose to go there partly because I loved the country and already had great friends there, but mainly because that was the period of Churchill's life which interested me most. Retracing his footsteps through South Africa during what was unquestionably the greatest adventure of his life was the most exciting journey I have ever made, even though there was no danger for me of death or capture - I only risked being killed by the kindness and hospitality of new friends eager to help me in my voyage of discovery. Although I knew there would be some people in South Africa with stories to tell, I expected my research to be mostly geographical. But during a television interview shortly after my arrival I appealed for anyone whose parents or grandparents had been involved in any way with Churchill during his time in South Africa to come forward. The response was incredible. Before the programme had even finished the telephone started to ring, the fax machine poured out constant messages, and letters arrived by every post. Encouraged by this, and with the cooperation of the South African media, I spread my request all around the country, on television, radio and in the newspapers. I found myself swamped with information, and it was at this point that I realised I was researching not just a chapter or two, but a whole book. The expedition soon became a family pilgrimage as, with my husband and our two young children, I travelled from place to place to check out information and meet those who had contacted me. xxi Churchill Wanted Dead or Alive We were welcomed with open arms by the descendants of Churchill 's friends and foes alike, who enthusiastically told us the stories they had heard while sitting on their grandparents' or, occasionally, their parents', knees. There was nothing orderly about the way the information came in, and therefore there was no efficient way for me to follow it up. We simply zig-zagged our way from place to place, with no idea where we would be the next day. From Johannesburg to Pretoria, from Vereeniging to Witbank, south to Ladysmith and Estcourt, on to Durban, north to the very edge of the Kruger National Park, back to Natal and down to the Cape. So it went on. It was not only we who travelled: some people came long distances to meet us. Wherever we went we were welcomed with great warmth, enormous interest in and huge enthusiasm for our search. We were wined and dined, shown treasured letters, diaries and photographs while at the same time making a host of new friends in a beautiful country we had all grown to love. This is the sort of research I enjoy most. Of course I visited libraries and archives, where people took endless trouble to help me find anything of relevance, but there is nothing to equal the experience of hearing living history passed down directly from those who were actually there. I experienced moments of highly charged emotion: discovering the place where my grandfather surrendered to the Boers, and being hugged by the descendants of men who had risked their lives for his safety and freedom. There were also amusing incidents, like the day we were told how Churchill chased a chicken round a farmyard because he wanted it for his dinner. One small mystery remains. Following his return to England in 1900, Churchill sent eight inscribed gold watches to people who had helped him during his dramatic escape as a prisoner of war. This story attracted a lot of attention when I mentioned it during my South African interviews, and as a result I now know where six of those eight watches are. Maybe the last two will come to light as a result of their present owners reading this book. Intrigued as I had always been by my grandfather's time in South xxn Preface Africa, it was only as I retraced his footsteps of a century before that I realised with awe how thrilling were his adventures, and how...