Long-lost Winston Churchill POW letter goes up for sale
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A POW letter from Winston Churchill before he became Britain's Prime Minister and details the warm relationship between Churchill and his captor has gone up for sale for a cool $85,000.
The letter, which is being sold by the Raab Collection, was written on Nov. 17, 1899, during the Second Boer War, when Churchill was a 24-year-old war correspondent for the Morning Post newspaper. He traveled to cover the conflict and was eventually captured along with British officers, by HG Spaarwater, according to the letter.
“The bearer, Mr HG Spaarwater, has been very kind to me and the British officers captured in the Escort armoured train," Churchill wrote in the letter. "I shall be personally grateful to anyone who may be able to do him any service should he himself be taken prisoner. Winston S Churchill.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(Credit: Raab Collection)
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In the letter, Churchill also detailed his conversations with Spaarwater -- "which he pronounced Spare-water," according to Churchill -- including learning about Spaarwater's life as a farmer in South Africa.
"He was a polite, meek-mannered little man, very anxious in all the discussion to say nothing that could hurt the feelings of his prisoners, and I took a great liking to him," Churchill wrote.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Before the train left Volksrust we changed our guards. The honest burghers who had captured us had to return to the front, and we were to be handed over to the police. The leader of the escort…approached and explained through Spaarwater that it was he who had placed the stone and so caused our misfortunes," Churchill added. "He said he hoped we bore no malice. We replied by no means, and that we would do the same for him with pleasure any day.”
The Second Boer War took place between Oct. 11, 1899, and May 31, 1902, between the British Empire and two independent Boer states over the influence of the Empire in South Africa.
The Spaarwater family had the letter for decades, before it was eventually transferred to a museum in Volksrust, a town in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965) steps into his car at the rear of Downing Street on his way to hand in his resignation to King George VI, 26th July 1945. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
"Churchill's early life shaped him into the man he became and set the stage for his storied career and leadership during the trying times of World War II," Nathan Raab, President of the Raab Collection, told Fox News via email. "Nowhere is that more evident than his capture as a young man very far from home. This rare note exemplifies that and shows that even during his time as a POW, he saw the humanity in his captors."
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Churchill eventually escaped captivity on Dec. 12, 1899, by vaulting over the prison wall into a neighboring property, before eventually traveling to Mozambique from Pretoria, South Africa. Churchill's escape made major headlines, Raab explained, and he became an instant hero and war hero in Britain.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After getting back to England in July 1900 to a hero's welcome, Churchill would eventually be elected to Parliament and continue a long political career, perhaps most well known for his role in World War II.
“This is a remarkable and revealing glimpse into the life of Winston Churchill and one he thought was so important he wrote about it decades later,” Raab added in a statement. “This episode is a significant moment in the life of the future Prime Minister, one that launched his political career.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Several Churchill-related artifacts have been uncovered in recent years. Banknotes worth $2.5 million in today's money were found in June 2018 at the location of Cotswold Outdoor store in Brighton, which was formerly Bradley Gowns, a branch of a well-known London-based furrier frequented by Churchill and his wife, Lady Clementine.
In November 2018, a series of mysterious rooms were uncovered for the first time in 250 years at Blenheim Palace, Churchill's birthplace.