January 1, 1970

Introduced by Richard M. Langworth

The prevailing image of Churchill as the courageous Conservative prime minister eclipses his earlier career as a tenacious Liberal reformer, most notably at the Home Office in 1910-11. At 35, Churchill was the youngest Home Secretary since Robert Peel. His responsibilities included British prisons, where— remembering his own incarceration during the Boer War—he was generous over clemency, commutation of sentences, and probation. Churchill also fought for increases in workmen’s compensation and improved working conditions. But then as now, public safety made the headlines. Before he left for the Admiralty, Churchill had been assailed by striking workers, attacked by women suffragists, challenged over decisions on capital punishment, and blamed for the fiery deaths of anarchist robbers. As with most of his life, where Churchill was concerned, things were far from dull.

The author of this article, Richard Devine, is a Chicago lawyer who was States Attorney of Cook County, Illinois, US, from 1996 to 2008.

Read the full article here: ‘Top Cop in a Top Hat’ by Richard Devine, Finest Hour 143, Summer 2010, scroll to page 20.

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