When Churchill met his ‘first great love’ in Secunderabad
Hyderabad: J-95, Allenby Lines. The red letters on a white board can easily pass off as just another address in Bolarum, towards the far end of the Secunderabad Cantonment. Away from the chaos of the city, nestled in the secure military area blanketed in green, is this quaint colonial house, which has the words ‘The Retreat 1875’ written in bold red on the white brick façade. The reputation of the house is known to most old-timers in Secunderabad, but barely to the newer population.
Venture into the gate and right at the entrance into the patio, beneath a window with two vintage lanterns, is a marble plaque which explains why this house has its tiny bit in British Indian history. – “Here lived Sir Winston LS Churchill, OBE, while serving with 4th Queen’s Own Hassars during 1896.”
A little to the right, on the patio itself, is a painting of the man himself, but not from the times when he lived in Secunderabad. The old, grumpy face, now familiar to many here courtesy Netflix series like ‘The Crown’, stares at visitors. A line in a corner of the painting says it was presented by Col L S Yadav. The house is now quarters for senior Army officials.
Not much else is known of The Retreat, though it was during his stay here that Churchill, who later went on to become Britain’s famous wartime Prime Minister, met his first great love, one which went unrequited too. In a link from winstonchurchill.org, author Fred Glueckstein quotes Churchill’s daughter Mary Soames from ‘Winston and Clementine: The Personal Letters of the Churchills’. She says his ‘first great love was Pamela Plowden, daughter of the Resident at Hyderabad, whom he had met as a young subaltern in India…’.
Glueckstein also quotes from a letter dated November 3 1896 that Churchill wrote to his mother: “I was introduced yesterday to Miss Pamela Plowden—who lives here. I must say that she is the most beautiful girl that I have ever seen— ‘Bar none’ as the Duchess [of Marlborough] Lily says. We are going to try and do the City of Hyderabad together—on an elephant.”
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