MICHAEL McMENAMIN’S
125 YEARS AGO AUTUMN 1896 • AGE 22 “THIS GODLESS LAND OF SNOBS AND BORES”
Churchill’s feeling of isolation as a subaltern in India and his desire to receive letters from England are apparent in a letter to his mother: “You can’t think with what pleasure and excitement I look forward to the mail. Do persuade people to write. Aunt Clara, who writes such good letters or Aunt Leonie…stimulate Jack and above all write yourself long, long, letters. Every word is thoroughly appreciated out herein this godless land of snobs and bores.”
Happily for Churchill, he received letters from Bourke Cockran, his Irish-American friend and mentor in New York City, who, despite being a Democrat, had successfully campaigned for Republican William McKinley in that year’s presidential election. Churchill wrote back to Cockran: “My Indian experiences have
