Alan S. Baxendale Livres

Winston Churchill will be forever known as the great statesman who bravely led Britain through the war years, but what led the young Churchill down this path to greatness? What motivated him to become the future leader? Delving into documentary records in the Home Office archive, Alan S. Baxendale brings to light the young Churchill's war at home while Home Secretary from February 1910 to October 1911. Passionate about reforming prison treatment and sentencing, Churchill engaged with his senior Home Office staff and His Majesty's Prison Commissioners in a daily discussion of the business of criminal justice. With a focus on his working methods and relationships with his staff, Baxendale offers a new look at Churchill as a young and talented politician whose leadership led to innovative reforms that are still influential today. This book makes an important contribution to the ongoing debate about the criminal justice system, providing a crucial addition to our understanding of the history of prison reform. It also gives us valuable insight into Churchill as a person, shedding light on his formative years as a minister and providing us with important clues to how he became one of the most successful politicians of modern times.

Historians of Winston Churchill’s career customarily mention his innovations, whether realized or not, in prison treatment and sentencing during his Home Secretaryship between February 1910 and October 1911. Little mention is made, however, of what motivated him. This book traces the evolution of Churchill’s thinking as it has survived in the documentary records of his Home Secretaryship held in the Home Office archive, together with other evidence, both primary and secondary. This evidence incorporates the exchange of views concerning specific prison treatment and sentencing issues in which Churchill engaged with his senior Home Office staff and His Majesty’s Prison Commissioners in the course of their day-to-day transaction of the business of criminal justice. These issues continue to be relevant, given the ongoing debate about modification of the criminal justice system, the internal organization and management of the Home Office as its overseer and more particularly prison treatment and sentencing. The book also sheds light on Churchill as a person, a politician and a government minister by focusing on his working methods and his relationships with his staff, reminding us of a side to his character which is an important element in understanding his long parliamentary and ministerial career.