CHURCHILL, Winston S.

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My Early Life. First Odhams edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To A. E. King, from Winston S. Churchill". In August 1948, Labour MP Fred Longden apologized to Churchill after claiming he had acted dishonourably when escaping the Boer War prison camp in 1899, leaving behind comrades who had planned a joint escape. A. E. King's wife was a cousin of Adam Brockie, who was imprisoned with Churchill. King was in possession of a letter from Brockie which he believed vindicated Churchill and sent it to him on 7 August 1948. Churchill noted to his staff, "Make copy of correspondence. It's important, as he helped me escape & this helps to prove it". Churchill wrote to King: "I am sending you a copy of my book My Early Life which you may care to have as it contains an account of my experiences in South Africa" (all in Churchill Archives, CHUR 2/379).Among Churchill's most widely read works, My Early Life provides an entertaining account of his childhood, schooldays at Harrow, military training at Sandhurst, experiences as a war correspondent in Cuba, service attached to the Malakand Field Force in the North-West Frontier Province of India, charging with the 21st Lancers at Omdurman, and time in South Africa during the Boer War. His escape from the camp is a key part of the narrative and fills two chapters. Overall, the memoir gives a "witty and elegiac account of his youth shot through with regret at the decline of the social and imperial or

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