A common description of the British aristocracy was ‘fine manners, unpaid bills’. The correspondence in the 1890s between a young Winston Churchill and his mother Lady Jennie, evidences this. How so?
Answer: Lady Churchill would chide her son for the fact that a bank had contacted her about Winston writing cheques on accounts which had insufficient funds. A practice which in the US, the mother told her son, would lead to charges being laid. Conversely, Winston would reproach her mother for buying a 200 pound evening dress, when the annual wage of a London servant at the time was some 50 pounds, when they were essentially poor.
Source: The letters of Winston Churchill by Randolph S Churchill.
More at: History
Comments are closed.
Back Home
