February 10, 2015

Neither Clementine Hozier nor Winston Churchill had wished to attend the dinner party at Lady St. Helier’s, but a change of mind favored both. Clemmie later recalled that WSC “made a bad impression on me,” but was eventually won over by his “dominating charm and brilliancy.” Although she accompanied her mother to Europe, she and Winston kept in constant touch by mail.

“sic itur ad astra”—”so shalt thou scale the stars.”

Newly-appointed Ministers were then required to seek reelection—usually a formality, but not in Winston’s case. Despite the support of free traders, the cotton and commercial community of Manchester, he was defeated. The Tory Daily Telegraph gleefully headlined: “Winston Churchill is out, OUT, OUT!” Immediately invited to run in Dundee, then solidly Liberal, WSC embarked on his first involvement in the politics of social reform—a natural extension, he believed, of his father’s Tory Democracy. His own philosophy was outlined in an article in The Nation entitled “The Untrodden Field of Politics” (Woods C34).

On Clementine’s return from Europe, she and WSC met several times but mainly on social occasions. Unmarried girls did not lunch or dine alone with men. The center of much attention, WSC published a shortened version of My African Journey in The Strand (Woods C35). Most observers expected great things from him. Quoting Virgil’s The Aeneid, Curzon wrote “sic itur ad astra”—”so shalt thou scale the stars.”

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