Title:MAJOR JOHN CHURCHILL FAMILY FILM [Allocated Title]
Film Number:MGH 5195-MGH 5202
Other titles:AMATEUR FILM BY MAJOR JOHN CHURCHILL [Alternative Title]
Summary: Amateur film shot by Major John ("Jack") Churchill, younger brother of Winston Churchill, records scenes with his friends and family (Lady Gwendeline Churchill and children Peregrine, Johnnie and Clarissa) in England and abroad (during cruises around Europe) in the 1930s.
Description: MGH 5195 - [MAJOR JOHN AND LADY GWENDELINE CHURCHILL AT HORSEY HALL, NORFOLK BROADS] (No titles)
Sailing scenes at Horsey Broad.Two men and a lady (Joan Vickers, later Baroness Vickers, politician) walk towards the camera. Breccles Hall. Major John and Lady Gwendeline Churchill, with their children Peregrine, Johnnie and Clarissa (later Countess of Avon). John and Peregrine Churchill on seesaw. Angela Culme Seymour (later Mrs Johnnie Churchill) and Penelope Chetwode (from July 1933 Lady Penelope Betjeman) in pony and trap. Girl in pool on horse is Clarissa Churchill. Tiger Moth biplane (belonging to Venetia Montagu - Mrs Edwin Montagu) going across a field. Rupert Bellville turns Tiger Moth biplane around in field, then plane takes off. Guests in silly hats outside the house include Lady Violet Bonham Carter and Sir Edward Marsh; children in tall pointy hats run around the garden. Picnic (including Liberal party leader and wartime Minister of Air Sir Archibald Sinclair and Lady Sinclair), cutting cake, candles. Girl with pale curls is future artist Prunella Clough (1919-1999), school friend of Clarissa Churchill.
MGH 5196 - [MAJOR JOHN AND LADY GWENDELINE CHURCHILL WITH CHILDREN CLARISSA AND PEREGRINE ON BALTIC CRUISE, 1932] (With titles)
S.S. Orontes May 1932. Oslo - g.vs of the city from onboard. Stockholm - views of city buildings on waterfront, including Town Hall and Royal Palace. Submarine (Swedish Navy?) passes. Tallinn (Reval), Estonia - g.vs of city from ship. Nevsky Cathedral. Helsingfors (Helsinki), Finland - g.vs square, buildings, cars and people. Travemunde and Lübeck, Germany. Advertsement for Mauxion chocolate in background. Copenhagen (Denmark). Norway: Aurlands and Naero, Fiords and Balholm.
MGH 5197 - [MAJOR JOHN AND LADY GWENDELINE CHURCHILL AND CHILDREN ON CRUISES TO NORWAY AND PORTUGAL] (With titles)
Bergen Ulvik To Eidefiord. Hotel Voringfos - Churchill family standing outside the hotel with bags. Norhe Imsund. Horse and carts outside Iversens Hotel. "Alcantara - April 1932". Sea views of Corunna (La Coruña), Vigo with destroyer of Spanish Navy visible, Lisbon, Belem and Albuquerque's house. (Man in yachting cap is Jack Churchill; second man in yachting cap is Lord Wimborne; tall man by sea is Sir Claude Russell, diplomat.)
MGH 5198 - [MAJOR JOHN AND LADY GWENDELINE CHURCHILL AND CHILDREN ON MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE ON ATLANTIS, 1933] (With titles)
Sea views of Majorca, Cape Helles, Istanbul, Anzac area of Gallipoli Peninsula ("Auzac"), Algiers and Gibraltar.
MGH 5199 - [MAJOR JOHN AND LADY GWENDELINE CHURCHILL AND CHILDREN AT STEEPLE ASHTON HOUSE, WILTSHIRE] (No titles)
Point-to-point. Unit of troops, some mounted, march through Wiltshire village of Steeple Ashton, protected from speeding vehicles by soldier at rear of column bearing sign on his back "Troops - Danger". Stonehenge. (Major Churchill's family took house for a year or two years.) Joan Vickers riding. An Oxford College, presumably Pembroke (where Johnnie Churchill was an undergraduate).
MGH 5200 - [MAJOR JOHN AND LADY GWENDELINE CHURCHILL AND CHILDREN ON CRUISE ALONG GÖTA CANAL, SWEDEN] (No titles)
Seaside scenes, then on board vessel Astrea passing along canal before reaching Stockholm, with Town Hall visible on waterfront. Angela Culme Seymour, now married to Johnnie Churchill.
MGH 5201 - [MAJOR JOHN AND LADY GWENDELINE CHURCHILL AND CHILDREN AT HOLWORTH HOUSE, DORSET] (No titles)
Johnnie and Angela Churchill with baby (later Lady Ashburton). Abbotsbury Swannery. Lulworth Castle. Lady Gwendeline Churchill with Rt Hon Harold Baker [who as MP had in 1912 opposed enfranchising women voters].
MGH 5202 - [MAJOR JOHN AND LADY GWENDELINE CHURCHILL AND CHILDREN IN ENGLAND] (With date titles)
July 1935 to Christmas 1937-1938. Brief shots of various children, including Sally Churchill at Holworth with her father Johnnie, and with her mother Angela at Chester Terrace, Regent's Park, London. Concludes with brief shot of Royal Navy fleet offshore, including battleships and destroyers H64 («HMS Duchess») and H30 («HMS Beagle»).
Alternative Title:AMATEUR FILM BY MAJOR JOHN CHURCHILL [Alternative Title]
Colour:B&W
Digitised:Yes
Object_Number:MGH 5195-MGH 5202
Sound:Silent
Access Conditions:IWM
Featured Period:
Production Date:1932
Production Country: GB
Production Details:
Personalities, Units and Organisations:Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer (person)
