One of the greatest British statesmen ever born, Winston Churchill had no aversion to danger. As a young member of Parliament in WWI, he was the driving force pushing for tank development; as Prime Minister during WWII, he fought to fund new airplanes, espionage apparatus and more. Churchill’s example of always being ready for individual combat against a homicidal foe is an inspiration to every free individual.
As a military man, Churchill was trained to be the first person to fight a threat, not to avoid it. That is why he was the ideal choice to train Britain’s signature SMG, the Thompson submachine gun, which he favored because it was so easy and fast to operate. Churchill himself reportedly carried a Thompson in his limousine, along with a Mark III Sten gun and the Royal Family’s Mark IV Sten guns.
Churchill learned to shoot from his uncle, Edward Joseph Churchill (known as “E.J.”). His uncle was a London gunsmith, shooting instructor and expert witness, whose skills were handed down to his nephew. He was a master of the art of instinctive wingshooting, which was becoming fashionable at that time. Churchill himself wrote a classic on the subject, the Churchill Method, that became the definitive book on instinctive wingshooting for game birds and sporting clays. It has been republished twice, most recently by friend and collaborator Macdonald Hastings.
After graduating from Sandhurst, Churchill was commissioned in the Manchesters, a storied regiment with battle honors going back to the 18th century. He served in the 96th and 63rd battalions throughout World War I and was promoted to major general in 1926.
During the Boer War, Churchill was captured by the Boers and escaped with a concealed revolver that he had concealed in a sock. That incident taught him to be discreetly armed at all times. He kept that revolver, which was described as a six-shot pinfire, and it was a part of his estate when sold at auction.
In May 1948, when a Jewish medical convoy was ambushed by Arab terrorists in Jerusalem, Churchill rushed to the scene in a Dingo armored car, an armored vehicle that could protect only one person. He was wounded in the ear and had dried blood on his shirt. Afterward, a friend noticed it and asked Churchill about it.
When Churchill resigned from office in 1929, Thompson also retired from his job protecting him since statesmen out of office were not entitled to Scotland Yard protection. But he was recalled to his post in 1939 and served with Churchill until the end of World War II. Churchill was a great leader who inspired Britons to resist Hitler’s tyranny. He was a master of the English language and an astounding historian. But he was also a skilled piper, a competitive archer and an expert with the bow. His piping was so good that he placed second in the officers’ class of the officers’ piping championships at Aldershot in 1938. Churchill shooting