Sir Winston Churchill, born 30 November 1874, died 24 January
1965, is not buried in the Abbey but just inside the west
entrance, near the grave of the Unknown Warrior, is a green
marble memorial stone. It was unveiled by The Queen on 19
September 1965 and the inscription was cut by the sculptor
Reynolds Stone:
REMEMBER
WINSTON
CHURCHILL
IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE WISHES OF
THE QUEEN AND PARLIAMENT
THE DEAN & CHAPTER PLACED THIS STONE
ON THE TWENTY FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
15 SEPTEMBER 1965
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, son of Lord Randolph
Churchill (a son of the Duke of Marlborough) and Jennie,
daughter of Leonard Jerome of New York, was born at Blenheim
Palace in Oxfordshire. He did not succeed very well at school
so he was sent into the Army, where he served in a cavalry
regiment. After leaving the Army he became a Member of
Parliament and started to write books. As a special
correspondent for the "Morning Post" he was sent to South
Africa to cover the Boer War and was taken prisoner in 1899. He
escaped and became a hero back in England. In 1908 he married
Clementine Hozier at St Margaret's Church, Westminster,
adjacent to the Abbey. He fell from favour after the disastrous
campaign at Gallipoli during the 1914-18 war but later became
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Prime Minister 1940-45. His
oratory during the Second World War and determination to defeat
Hitler and the Nazis is legendary. He became Prime Minister
again from 1951-55, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953
and was made a Knight of the Order of the Garter and member of
the Order of Merit. He declined a peerage. In 1953 he launched
the appeal for funds to restore the Abbey and a plaque in the
Jerusalem Chamber records this. A few years before his death he
was made an Honorary Citizen of the United States.
Before the State Funeral at St Paul's Cathedral his body lay
in state at Westminster Hall and was taken by river to the
Cathedral. He is buried with his parents in Bladon churchyard,
near to Blenheim Palace. His home at Chartwell in Kent is open
to the public
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
Further reading: "The Dictionary of National Biography"
See also
www.churchill.nls.ac.uk