Early Life
He was born at Blenheim Palace, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire. He was at first privately educated, and later attended Tabor's Preparatory School at Cheam, London. In January 1863 he went to Eton College, where he remained until July 1865. He did not stand out either at academic work or sport while at Eton; his contemporaries describe him as a vivacious and rather unruly boy. In October 1867 he matriculated at Merton College, Oxford. He had a liking for sport, but was also an avid reader, and obtained a second-class degree in jurisprudence and modern history in 1870. In 1871, Churchill and his uncle George Spencer-Churchill were initiated into the rites of Freemasonry, as later his son Winston would be. In 1874 he was elected to Parliament as Conservative member for Woodstock, Oxfordshire defeating George Brodrick, a Fellow, and afterwards Warden, of Merton College. His maiden speech, delivered in his first session, prompted compliments from Harcourt and Disraeli, who wrote to the Queen of Churchill's 'energy and natural flow'.
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