1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Churchill, Winston

CHURCHILL, WINSTON (1871-), American writer, was born in St. Louis, Nov. 10 1871. He graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1894. He was conspicuous alike in scholarship and in general student activities. He became an expert fencer and he organized at Annapolis the first eight-oared crew, of which he was for two years captain. He had already decided upon a literary career, and after brief service in the navy he resigned and for a time was connected with the Army and Navy Journal. In 1895 he became managing editor of the Cosmopolitan Magazine; but in less than a year he retired that he might have more time for writing. His first novel, after being twice recast, appeared as The Celebrity, in 1898. His next book, Richard Carvel, appeared in 1899 and had a sale of almost a million copies. Its scene is Maryland during the American Revolution. His next work, The Crisis (1901), opens in St. Louis in the days of the Civil War. The heroine is the great-great-granddaughter of his former hero, Richard Carvel. The intervening period of western expansion, following the Louisiana Purchase, is depicted in The Crossing (1904). His other works are: Coniston (1906, the career of a post-bellum political boss); Mr. Crewe's Career (1908, the railroads in politics); A Modern Chronicle (1910); The Inside of the Cup (1913, the 20th-century Church); A Far Country (1915, methods of “big business”) and The Dwelling Place of Light (1917). All his novels treat of phases of American development, historical or social, and form a sort of chronological sequence. He has written a play in three acts, Dr. Jonathan (1919). Mr. Churchill took an active part in state politics. From 1903 to 1905 he was a member of the Legislature of New Hampshire, and in 1912 he was an unsuccessful candidate for governor on the Progressive ticket.