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ALS signed “Winston S. Churchill,” four pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, blindstamped Colonial Office letterhead, December 24, 1907. Handwritten letter to "Mrs. Scrivings," sent from "The Palace, Khartoum." In part: "I grieve to tell you that your husband died today of choleraic diarrhoea after an illness of about sixteen hours. He seems to have eaten some poisonous food which set up acute inflammation. What this was we cannot tell; but we have all had the same food, for he always ate whatever was prepared for me and others. It may be some mouthful of poisoned fish from a tin. It may be that his constitution was less strong than ours, as he had not been taking any exercise, owing to a sprained ankle…He did not suffer any pain worse than a very bad attack of sickness & diarrhoea, & his end was peaceful & swift. As he had been a yeoman, he was buried with full military honours this evening. The Dublin Fusiliers carried him to his grave in the Khartoum cemetery & he now lies in that distant Soudan for which so many good Englishmen have given their lives doing their duty…My heart bleeds for you & For your poor children. It will be my duty to make adequate provision for your future & their's; & you need not worry on those matters. We will talk of them when I return. We had left the unhealthy regions of Uganda, and for ten days your husband had been living quietly & comfortably on board a large river steamer. He was not exposed to any hardships or dangers that we did not equally share…I hope you may find some comfort in your great & terrible trouble. My own sorrow is keen & deep. I was very fond of Scrivings & regarded him as a faithful friend, whose character & virtues I respected & admired. May God help you to heal your loss." In fine condition.
Churchill wrote this letter during his tour of British East Africa and Sudan as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, a journey he would later chronicle in his 1908 book My African Journey. Traveling through Uganda and up the Nile in the autumn of 1907, he arrived in Khartoum in December—a city with deep personal significance, as Churchill had fought there as a young cavalry officer at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898. The death of his valet George Scrivings from contaminated food cast a tragic shadow over the final days of the expedition.
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