The Churchill connection

Winston Churchill was Bristol University’s longest serving chancellor. Between 1929 and his death in 1965, his devotion to his university duty, even during the darkest days of World War Two, never wavered.

2015 marks the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s death, the 75th anniversary of his first becoming Prime Minister and the 75th anniversary of his ‘Finest Hour’ at the Battle of Britain.

Throughout the year Bristol University has held a series of celebrations and commemorations celebrating its Churchill connection.

Churchill addressing the audience at the laying of the foundation stone at the Queen’s Building, December 14 1951 (Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Bristol)

As part of the commemorations, a new book exploring Churchill’s Bristol connections has been written by historian Professor Sir David Cannadine.

“Although there is a hall of residence named after him, his chancellorship has been largely forgotten,” said Professor Cannadine. “I hope my short book will help to rectify that.”

He added: “Bristol is, after all, the only British university that could claim to have as its chancellor the man widely acclaimed as ‘the greatest Englishman of his time’.”

However, back in 1929 Churchill’s appointment was an unexpected choice.

With no real interest in education and lacking a university degree, by the late 1920s Churchill was the grand old man of British politics, widely considered to be a has-been and at the end of his political career.

By contrast Bristol University was up and coming, funded by new money and the drive and passion of benefactors like the Fry family and the Wills dynasty.

Less than 25-years-old, the university only received its Royal Charter in 1909. By 1929 the university had fewer than 1000 students, but it was one of an ambitious group of new universities like Manchester and Nottingham which were beginning to make their mark.

Churchill carried by crowds of students, December 13 1929 (Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Bristol)

Nevertheless, Churchill’s appointment proved wildly popular with students.

After the ceremony installing him as chancellor on December 13 1929, Churchill joined in the student RAG events.

He was carried through the streets of Bristol on their shoulders, taken to the Victoria Rooms and took part in a performance where he was arrested, tried and imprisoned.

The jubilant scenes were captured on film: Winnie – a university chancellor shows crowds gathering to welcome Churchill at Temple Meads and the procession to the Victoria Rooms.

After Churchill addressed the University’s students in Colston Hall in November 1954, the Lady President of the Union presented him with a surprise gift of a silver salver

(Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Bristol)

Churchill always regretted that he had never been able to study for a degree, but his commitment to university education was unwavering. Professor Cannadine said despite his complex feelings towards education he performed “the Chancellorship with great panache, brio and elan… constantly speaking up for the benefits and importance of higher education”.

His tenure may have gone unnoticed by history but for a monumental twist of fate. In 1940 he became prime minister and Bristol suddenly found itself with a world famous chancellor.

With his fame came two of the most memorable moments of his Chancellorship.

This first was his visit to Bristol during the dark days of 1941 and the second on the eve of victory in 1945.

Churchill inspecting bomb damage in Bristol (Credit: Imperial War Museum)

Bristol sustained severe bomb damage from the Luftwaffe the night before Churchill arrived on April 12 1941 to preside at the degree ceremony.

According to the Churchill Centre, John Colville, the Prime Minister’s Private Secretary, described how the official party led by the Lord Mayor “walked and motored through devastation such as I had never thought possible”.

Not only had huge swathes of Bristol been destroyed, the Great Hall of the Wills Building had sustained a direct hit and the damage was immense.

Churchill insisted that the ceremony go ahead. It did, next door in the smaller but undamaged Reception Room.

In his war memoirs, Churchill recalled: “The ceremony went forward as planned. Everything proceeded with strict formality, but the large building next to the University was still burning and the bright academic robes of some of the principal actors did not conceal the smoke and grime uniforms of their night’s toil. The whole scene was moving.”

Colville recalled that Churchill “made an excellent impromptu speech in which he likened the fortitude of Bristol to that which we are accustomed ‘to associate with Ancient Rome and modern Greece.’”

Bristol University held a series of Churchill lectures throughout 2015, including talks by Professor Cannadine and Churchill’s granddaughter Celia Sandys.

In the post-war years things were rapidly changing – for the university and for Churchill himself.

Between 1945 and 1965, Bristol more than quadrupled its pre-war size and was gaining an international recognition.

But once again, the fortunes of Churchill and Bristol university seemed to be going in different directions.

After a triumphant war Churchill lost the 1945 election.  In June 1946, during his first peacetime appearance at Bristol following his election defeat he said: “Many things have happened since I was last here but one thing at least hasn’t changed, I remain chancellor of Bristol University.”

And so he remained chancellor until his death in 1965.

In his final analysis of Churchill’s tenure Professor Cannadine said: “Churchill performed the Bristol chancellorship brilliantly”.

“Before the crowds who cheered him when he stepped down from his train at Temple Meads Station; flourishing a cigar and making the V-sign; in front of the undergraduates who were charmed and flattered to be in the presence of the great man himself.”

Whenever he came to Bristol”, vice-chancellor Sir Philip Morris later recalled, “it was particularly delightful to watch his arrival and see him obviously take charge of the place and of its affairs for the short period of his visit.”

With huge thanks and full credit to Professor Sir David Cannadine and his book Heroic Chancellor: Winston Churchill and the University of Bristol 1929-1965.

Top Photo Churchill outside the Wills Memorial Building, after the honorary degree ceremony, June 21 1946 Image courtesy of Special Collections, University of Bristol

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