- News>
- Newspapers
City girl broke Churchill`s heart: The Deccan Chronicle
London, Nov 10: Winston Churchill first fell in love in Hyderabad in 1896 but was spurned for the son of a Viceroy of India. He suffered heartbreak when his hopes of marrying the love of his life were dashed by his lack of money.
London, Nov 10: Winston Churchill first fell in love in Hyderabad in 1896 but was spurned for the son of a Viceroy of India. He suffered heartbreak when his hopes of marrying the love of his life were dashed by his lack of money.
The man who went on to become Britain’s wartime Prime Minister proposed to Pamela Plowden, a renowned society beauty, when he was in his early twenties, and it is thought that they were informally engaged. But just two years later she married Victor, Earl of Lytton. A few months his senior, Plowden was the daughter of Sir Trevor Chichele-Plowden, at that time the British Resident in Hyderabad.
Churchill was in Hyderabad as a young officer. In Hyderabad, he stayed in one of the bungalows of the then British Military Officers Colony at Bolarum.
The bungalow still exists with a plaque erected at the entrance of the bungalow reads “This is the Bungalow where Churchill stayed while in Hyderabad.” He was a member of the Secunderabad Club, and the 12th hole is named after him in the city's golf course.
A letter released by Pamela’s descendants shows Churchill was acutely aware that his financial situation was a bar to marriage.
Writing from Kolkata in March 1899, he began with “My dear Miss Pamela” and told her: “I have lived all my life seeing the most beautiful women London produces... Never have I seen one for whom I would forego the business of life. Then I met you... Were I a dreamer of dreams, I would say... Marry me and I will conquer the world and lay it at your feet.
For marriage two conditions are necessary — money and the consent of both parties. One certainly, both probably are absent. And this is all such an old story...” The letter is among a set of 40 expected to fetch a six-figure sum when they are auctioned by Christie’s next month.
They span 63 years that begin with Churchill wearing his heart on his sleeve in florid love letters, then mature into an affectionate correspondence between friends before, during and after the war.
It was love at first sight and he wrote to his mother: “She is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.”
In the March 1899 letter, which has a Christie’s guide price of £18,000-£25,000, Churchill contemplates a future without Pamela: “I look to the consolations of life. I enjoy health, brains, youth and the future... God has taken pleasure in inventing an imperfect world. What a God!”
Churchill was in Hyderabad as a young officer. In Hyderabad, he stayed in one of the bungalows of the then British Military Officers Colony at Bolarum.
The bungalow still exists with a plaque erected at the entrance of the bungalow reads “This is the Bungalow where Churchill stayed while in Hyderabad.” He was a member of the Secunderabad Club, and the 12th hole is named after him in the city's golf course.
A letter released by Pamela’s descendants shows Churchill was acutely aware that his financial situation was a bar to marriage.
Writing from Kolkata in March 1899, he began with “My dear Miss Pamela” and told her: “I have lived all my life seeing the most beautiful women London produces... Never have I seen one for whom I would forego the business of life. Then I met you... Were I a dreamer of dreams, I would say... Marry me and I will conquer the world and lay it at your feet.
For marriage two conditions are necessary — money and the consent of both parties. One certainly, both probably are absent. And this is all such an old story...” The letter is among a set of 40 expected to fetch a six-figure sum when they are auctioned by Christie’s next month.
They span 63 years that begin with Churchill wearing his heart on his sleeve in florid love letters, then mature into an affectionate correspondence between friends before, during and after the war.
It was love at first sight and he wrote to his mother: “She is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.”
In the March 1899 letter, which has a Christie’s guide price of £18,000-£25,000, Churchill contemplates a future without Pamela: “I look to the consolations of life. I enjoy health, brains, youth and the future... God has taken pleasure in inventing an imperfect world. What a God!”