Q: “Undefeatable Race”

I have unsuccessfully searched the web for a speech Winston Churchill gave to Parliament referring to the Welsh as “the undefeatable race.” Do you know the speech? I believe it was in Churchill’s address following the death of David Lloyd George in March 1945. —S.D.

A: “Unconquerable Welsh”

It did occur in that speech, but Churchill’s word was “unconquerable,” not “undefeatable.” Churchill used it in a tribute. I have emailed you the full text of “The Death of Earl Lloyd George,” in 1945. It is in Winston S. Churchill, Victory. 1946, and in Robert Rhodes James, editor, Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches 1897-1963 (1974). 

Churchill’s last paragraph tends to refute the notion, which we hear occasionally, that he cared little for others. He had many ups and downs with Lloyd George over the years. The Welsh Wizard was unsupportive in 1915, when WSC fell from grace over the Dardanelles and Gallipoli. He refused to join the Churchill coalition government in 1940. (Some historians consider that this was more out of intense dislike for Neville Chamberlain, who stayed on as Lord President of the Council.) Nonetheless, Churchill’s final words on his Welsh colleague are worth considering. They exemplify his skill at oratory, and his abundant magnanimity.

House of Commons, 28 March 1945:

Thus the statesman and guide whose gentle passing in the fullness of his years we mourn today served our country, our Island and our age, both faithfully and well in peace and in war. His long life was, from almost the beginning to almost the end, spent in political strife and controversy. He aroused intense and sometimes needless antagonisms. He had fierce and bitter quarrels at various times with all the parties.  [And] he faced undismayed the storms of criticism and hostility.

In spite of all obstacles, including those he raised himself, he achieved his main purposes. As a man of action, resource and creative energy he stood, when at his zenith, without a rival. His name is a household word throughout our Commonwealth of Nations.

He was the greatest Welshman which that unconquerable race has produced since the age of the Tudors. Much of his work abides, some of it will grow greatly in the future, and those who come after us will find the pillars of his life’s toil upstanding, massive and indestructible; and we ourselves, gathered here today, may indeed be thankful that he voyaged with us through storm and tumult with so much help and guidance to bestow. —WSC

It was supposedly Blaise Pascal (not Winston Churchill) who said he was going to give a long speech because he hadn’t the time to prepare a short one. I have an idea for a short speech that will take no time at all: The Whole Welsh Works of Winston.

I was actually going to use this as an intro to a longer talk at Hillsdale College later this month. We decided it was too obscure to matter to most listeners. It might even bore them, except for any Welsh in the audience. (Who would certainly deplore my pronunciation.)

For the record though, I offer herewith the complete Welsh Works of Sir Winston Churchill—at least those known to me.

Chapter 1

Trechu’r Goresgynnydd is the Welsh version of Beating the Invader, Cohen B76. Bibliographer Ronald Cohen advises that it is Churchill’s only Welsh printed work. The Ministry of Information published it in May 1941. Mr. Cohen knows of only a single copy. The press run, however, was 160,400. This version is not in the Cohen Collection at Hillsdale College.

Chapter 2

Churchill had a prominent Welsh challenger, the socialist MP Emrys Hughes, who wrote a spurious biography of him. In it Hughes took the liberty of badly misquoting him to suggest he hated Germans. Nevertheless, Churchill and Hughes nursed a secret mutual affection, which they tried to keep well hidden as they sparred in Parliament.

In November 1951, just re-elected Prime Minister, Churchill appointed the Welshman David Llewellyn as Undersecretary for Welsh Affairs in the Home Office. “His name,” Churchill told the House of Commons, “is quite well known throughout the principality.”

Emrys Hughes leaped from his seat to demand: “Pronounce it.”

“I will,” said Churchill—“Llewellyn.” Then he stunned the House of Commons by adding “Môr o gân yw Cymru i gyd.” [All Wales is a sea of song.] It was a phrase Churchill learned while attending an Eisteddfod, a Welsh festival, thirty years before with his friend, David Lloyd George. (His photographic memory never slipped.)

Chapter 3

A few days later, Churchill spoke on the forthcoming budget proposed by the new Government.

Mr. Hughes rose. “Owing to the popularity the Government has gained by the reduction of their salaries, is not the Prime Minister prepared to apply the principle to the big item of more than £500,000 spent on the Civil List?” (The Civil List is an itemization of funds paid to individuals by the government.)

Churchill did not hesitate. “Dim o gwbl,” he replied. It means “At any time.” Which was a nice Welsh way of saying “I’m really not going to tell you anything.”

Thus endeth Sir Winston Churchill’s complete works in Welsh. Any additional discoveries are most welcome. Which is to say: Mae croeso mawr i unrhyw ddarganfyddiadau ychwanegol.