The Story of the Malakand Field Force, 1897

Czech Edition 1997

Between 1895 and 1900 Churchill pursued a military career with one fixed thought in mind - army life was not to be an end in itself but rather it was to be his stepping stone to a political career. Fame would facilitate the move from one to the other and there were two paths by which he could reach it - heroism and writing. As it happened heroism came naturally to the young Winston and his apparent total lack of fear was noted by many of his contemporaries. His reputation as a medal hunter was well-deserved, but he earned the ones he got and perhaps was unlucky not to be awarded others.

Writing also appeared to come easily, although to believe so would be to discount Churchill's strict autodidactic regimen of reading and writing in the sweltering Bangalore afternoons, while his fellow officers relaxed. Although the Malakand was the first book Churchill published it was actually the second one he started, having already produced eleven chapters of a novel, initially entitled Affairs of State but later to be published as Savrola.

Churchill's service with the Malakand Field Force had lasted five weeks. By late October 1897 he was back in Bangalore and, having resolved to write the history of the expedition, was engaged in a frantic race against time to beat Lord Fincastle who had the same goal in mind. Not wanting to lose time bouncing proofs between India and England he sent the manuscript to his mother and asked her to have Moreton Frewen (her brother-in-law and unkindly known by some as 'Mortal Ruin') to proofread and correct. It was a decision he was to regret. Since the manuscript no longers exists it is difficult to know exactly what Frewen did, but, when the book appeared, the review in The Atheneum described it as 'in style a volume by Disraeli revised by a mad printer's reader... One word is printed for another, sentences are defaced by shameless blunders, and sentence after sentence ruined by the punctuation of an idiot or of a schoolboy in the lowest form'. Corrections for the Colonial Edition required 122 hours of typesetter's time.

Churchill was, to say the least, mortified. As Frederick Woods observes in Artillery of Words it is perhaps as well that he and Frewen were separated by several thousand miles. However, the book was actually extremely well received, and even drew a letter of praise from the Prince of Wales.

The Malakand which, after all, deals with nothing more than a minor episode in the history of the rocky fringes of the British Empire, is not inherently important, although it is eminently readable. However, it is immensely important insofar as in many ways it provided not just a stepping stone but also the confirmation which enabled Churchill to take up a political career. He was not rich. He had no income other than an allowance from his mother who was far from being a financial role model herself. Churchill had proved he could write for money, both in Cuba in 1895 and in the Malakand campaign itself with his letters for the Daily Telegraph, but now he had proved he could do so outside the realm of serialised war correspondence. For the rest of his life his main source of income was to be his pen.

As Churchill's first published book the first editions and subsequent Colonial and Silver Library editions are eagerly sought and command eye-watering prices. However, unlike some other entries in the canon, the work is relatively accessible. Although only one English language edition was published between 1900 and 1990 (The Nelson Shilling Library, 1916) the Leo Cooper edition of 1990 has done immense service to scholars and collectors alike. The Cooper edition spawned appearances in paperback (Mandarin) as well as US hardcover issues from Norton and Barnes & Noble. Most recently Easton Press have produced a handsome leather bound edition.

Probably because of its somewhat parochial subject matter the Malakand has not attracted a great deal of attention by way of translated editions. Until recently the work had only appeared in Swedish (Skoglunds, 1944). However, in 1997 an extremely attractive Czech edition from Jota was added to the ranks.

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