What Was Churchill's Fulneral Like?

[jake-the-peg]

We must have quite a few members who remember this

Was there as much controversy as there is now with MT's fulneral?

In some quarters he was a contraversial figure - Gallipoli, botched return to the gold standard, troops and miners

Booed in some places campaigning after the war when people wanted 'a land fit for heroes' not 'back to the 30s'

Television was more highly censored for 'appropriateness' then but what did people say in the streets and pubs - did everybody forget the controversies and just concentrate on those 6 war years?

[DJHawkes]

Churchill had a 'lying in state' for 3 days before the funeral and over 320,00 people filed past the coffin over the 3 days. That is a feature of a 'state' funeral , I guess that's one of the differences between state and ceremonial. The Queen Mum had a state funeral where her 4 grandsons were part of the guard for her lying in state.

[New Judge]

Many people who I knew and who lived through WW2 thought of him as a “warmonger”. Some of this, I believe was handed down from the generation that saw WW1. Of course I was not there so could not be sure, but the impression I get from the information I have gathered is that he was nothing of the sort. He did not instigate WW2 (as has been said, it was well under way when he became PM). But rather like Mrs T (albeit in very different circumstances) he had to make some tough decisions to get the country out of a mess. When you make tough decisions you tend to make some enemies.

I remember his funeral. As far as I know there was no dissent even among the people who did not like what he did. Like Mrs T he had things to do and did them and most people respected him for that. The nation was left in a far worse position following his tenure (because of the war) that it ever was in 1990 (because of industrial strife). But in 1965 people did not seem to dwell on the past as seem to revel in today.

[baza]

the shop where I worked was stripped and draped in black cloth , with a portrait of the great man, and this was a jewish tailors.

[vulcan42]

I think Winston Churchill was held in high esteem and with great affection by the British people in the intervening years between the end of the war and his Death, there was the same sadness throughout the country that occurred when the King died in 1952. There was of course the Dresden bombing Controversy but during those early years after the war,many people didn't consider it wrong, especially those living in cities like London, Coventry, Liverpool etc. He was also defeated in the general election,but the public just thought that a great wartime leader didn't necessarily make a good peacetime one, there was no animosity. Yes, it was the War years that he was mainly remembered for but he was a great character in his own right, something that's sadly lacking in today's leaders.

[DTCwordfan]

sometimes sirprize I wonder if you read anything - how plonkerish can you be....his time in India.

[carolegif]

It was in black and white, and as his coffin was taken down the Thames by boat, all the cranes dipped in honour as he went past.
Richard Dimbleby did the commentary.

[New Judge]

Whilst we're on the detail I recall the fly past by the RAF's English Electric Lightnings ("frightning" Lightnings - a training version of which I was extremely lucky to have a flight in the following year) and the coffin being transported to Oxfordshire on a special train hauled by "Battle of Britain" class steam locomotive No. 34051 "Winston Churchill."

[jake-the-peg]

Hmmm

Churchill post-1945

He lost the 1945 election by a landslide - badly misjudging the national mood he rubbishing the idea of the NHS and improved public education so if the public held him in great esteem then they didn't show it by electing him then.

He did get a second term in 1951 which was less than stellar - the Mau Mau rebellion, the loss of Malaya, the Korean war - but he did manage to end rationing which I'm guessing would have raised his popularity.

I suspect that his retirement as PM 10 years before his death gave people a chance to rediscover a fondness for him and that if he'd actually died of the stroke he had in '53 in office it might have been a bit different.

He was in politics for the sort of time that makes MT look like a flash in the pan - the only MP to be elected under Victoria and Elizabeth - If you could plot his popularity over those years I think you'd have a veritable switchback ride.

Guess he went out on an up

[DJHawkes]

just checked and his funeral was on a saturday, that will be why i remember watching it. No saturday morning tele then and Grandstand only started at 12.30 or thereabouts

[jake-the-peg]

Saturday? Good call

Wonder why they didn't do that this time - maybe the overtime bill!

[vulcan42]

There's no overtime rate in the forces.

[DJHawkes]

nope, as i've said a couple of times this week, my ex used to tell me he was paid from 12midnight to 11.9 seven days a week and if he ever fell whilst on a rescue he had to shout i resign on the way down so he could sue

[jake-the-peg]

There is in the police Vulcan!

[DaisyNonna]

People were more polite.

[tamborine]

Churchill lay in state for 3days with public filing past his coffin 24/7. Four rotated servicemen guarded his open coffin throughout. I witnessed the horse drawn gun carriage pass by. The public were sombre and respectful; we didn't have lardy-louts as we were busy working for our crusts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/24/newsid_2506000/2506493.stm

[Canary42]

I remember his funeral as being a very moving and solemn occasion with no dissenting demonstrations or celebrations at all.

[Peter Pedant]

come on ! come on ! DTC
after the gallipoli fiasco (on telly last night so it MUST be true)
he resigned as first lord

and went to France somewhere near the trenches as a Brigadier

try goggling churchill trenches

[Peter Pedant]

.

Churchill as war criminal - even tho some of the defences at Nuremburg were that the "ALlies did it too" - used effectively by Goering at the American prosecutor, who as an ex supreme court judge and also widely thought to have botched the job - didnt take off as far as I can see before

1967 Rolf Hochhuth's play Obituary for Geneva

at the time there were no protests - even by the unwashed etc.


In the short film, I noticed Harold Wilson wiping his eye and all I can say is that I thought Osbourne's were not pretended.

[FredPuli43]

In 1898, Churchill rode with the 21st Lancers at the Battle of Omdurman. It's details like that which makes one realise just how old he was when he became Prime Minister; a man who, in his youth, had ridden in a cavalry charge with lances. But the whole of the first part of his life seems to have been one long adventure, bravely facing (and sometimes seeking) danger. Just the type for a World War leader. It was that persona that made him a success at the job and also got him the reverence of the people. Once obtained, that was never lost.

Although I did see that Maggie Thatcher in a tank once....

[askyourgran]

There was much more respect in those days, state funerals were solemn and heavily draped in black, he was awarded much pomp and circumstance. Churchill was well regarded not only for his spirit during the war years, but as a long serving soldier himself. It was after the war when men were returning from the front lines and the return to industry that the political scene had to change, it was not feasible to return to post war politics. The Labour party seized on a paper written by Sir William Beverley in 1942, he advocated a system of National Insurance, comprehensive welfare for all and strategies to maintain full employment. It was on this basis that Clement Attlee won with the Labour Party manifesto in 1945. However to me, Churchill will be remembered for his 'Bulldog spirit' during the dark war years.