Honours of Winston Churchill

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Winston Churchill received numerous honours and awards, the highest honour of which he received upon his death by decree of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. His body lay in state for three days and a state funeral service was held at St Paul's Cathedral.^[1] This was the first state funeral for a non-royal family member since 1914, and no other of its kind has been held since. The funeral also saw the largest assemblage of statesmen in the world until the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005.

Churchill's Honorary Citizen of the United States passport

Throughout his life, Churchill also accumulated other honours and awards. He was awarded 37 other orders and medals between 1885 and 1963. Of the orders, decorations and medals Churchill received, 20 were awarded by Great Britain, three by France, two each by Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and Spain, and one each by Egypt, Libya, Nepal, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States. Ten were awarded for active service as an Army officer in Cuba, India, Egypt, South Africa, England, France, and Belgium. The greater number of awards were given in recognition of his service as a minister of the British government. A full list of his awards are contained in the book 'The Orders, Decorations and Medals of Sir Winston Churchill' by Douglas Russell'.^[2]

1 Honorary Citizen
2 Other honours
3 Polls
4 Objects
5 Buildings and statues
6 List of honours
- 6.1 Education
- 6.2 Military
7 Sources

[edit] Honorary Citizen

In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy acting under authorisation granted by an Act of Congress, proclaimed Churchill the first Honorary Citizen of the United States.^[3] Churchill was physically incapable of attending the White House ceremony, so his son and grandson accepted the award for him.

[edit] Other honours

An Air Commodore's sleeve/shoulder insignia

Prior to the outbreak of World War II, Churchill was made an Honorary Air Commodore of 615 Squadron RAF.

From 1941 to his death, he was the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, a ceremonial office. In 1941 Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King swore him into the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. Although this allowed him to use the honorific title "The Honourable" and the post-nominal letters "P.C." both of these were trumped by his membership in the Imperial Privy Council which allowed him the use of The Right Honourable.

In 1953, he was awarded two major honours: he was invested as a Knight of the Garter (becoming Sir Winston Churchill, KG) and he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature "for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values".^[4]

He was Chancellor of the University of Bristol as well as in 1959, Father of the House, the MP with the longest continuous service.

In 1955, after retiring as Prime Minister, Churchill was offered elevation to the peerage in the rank of duke. He considered the offer, and even chose the name "Duke of London". However, he then declined the title after being persuaded by his son Randolph not to accept it, since Randolph wished to pursue a political career in the House of Commons, which would be impossible if he inherited a peerage, since, at that time, there was no procedure for disclaiming a title.^[5] Since then, only British royals have been made dukes.

In 1956, Churchill received the Karlspreis (known in English as the Charlemagne Award), an award by the German city of Aachen to those who most contribute to the European idea, and European peace.^[6]

[edit] Polls

Sir Winston Churchill was voted the greatest-ever Briton in the 2002 BBC poll the 100 Greatest Britons.^[7]

Churchill is the tenth most admired person by Americans in the 20th century, according to Gallup.^[8]

[edit] Objects

One of four specially made sets of false teeth, designed to retain Churchill's distinctive style of speech, which Churchill wore throughout his life is now kept in the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.^[9]

On March 10, 2001, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill was commissioned into the United States Navy. The launch and christening of the ship two years earlier was co-sponsored by Churchill's daughter, Lady Soames.

He appears on the 1965 British Crown Coin, the first person other than a monarch to be placed on British money.^[10]

The Churchill tank, or Infantry Tank Mk IV; was a British Second World War tank named after Churchill, who was Prime Minister at the time of its design.^[11]

[edit] Buildings and statues

A statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.

Many statues have been created in likeness and in honour of Churchill. Numerous buildings and squares have also been named in his honour. The most prominent example of a statue of Churchill is the official statue commissioned by the government and created by Ivor Roberts-Jones which now stands in Parliament Square, erected 1976. In addition several other statues have also been made, including a bronze head of Churchill by Jacob Epstein (1946), several statues by David McFall at Woodford (1959), William McVey outside the British embassy in Washington D.C. (1966), Franta Belsky at Fulton, Missouri (1969), Oscar Nemon in the House of Commons (1969), and Jean Cardot in Paris (1998).^[12]

In 1960, Churchill College, Cambridge was established as the national and Commonwealth learning institution dedicated in his honour. It includes one of the largest collections of his writings and papers - the Churchill Archives.^[13]

Nine schools in Canada are named in his honour: one each in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Hamilton, Kingston, St. Catharines, Lethbridge, Calgary, and Ottawa. Churchill Auditorium at the Technion is named after him.