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The Winslow Boy is an English play from 1946 byTerence Rattigan based on an incident involvingGeorge Archer-Shee in theEdwardian era.[1] The incident took place at theRoyal Naval College, Osborne.[2]
Set against the strict codes of conduct and manners of the age,The Winslow Boy is based on a father's fight to clear his son's name after the boy is expelled fromOsborne Naval College for allegedly stealing a five-shillingpostal order. To clear the boy's name was imperative for the family's honour; had they not done so, they would have been shunned by their peers and society. Similarly, the boy's life would have been wrecked by an indelible stain on his character which would have followed him throughout adulthood.
The play was inspired by an actual event, which set a legalprecedent: the case ofStonyhurst College alumnusGeorge Archer-Shee, a cadet at Osborne in 1908, who was accused of stealing a postal order from a fellow cadet. His elder brother, Major Martin Archer-Shee, was convinced of his innocence and persuaded his father (also called Martin) to engage lawyers. The most respected barrister of the day, SirEdward Carson, was also persuaded of his innocence and insisted on the case coming to court. On the fourth day of the trial, theSolicitor General, SirRufus Isaacs, accepted that Archer-Shee was innocent, and ultimately the family was paid compensation.
Ronnie Winslow, a fourteen-year-oldcadet at the Royal Naval College, is accused of the theft of a five-shillingpostal order. An internal enquiry, conducted without notice to his family and without the benefit of representation, finds him guilty, and his father, Arthur Winslow, is "requested to withdraw" his son from the college (the formula of the day for expulsion). Arthur Winslow believes Ronnie's claim of innocence and, with the help of hissuffragette daughter Catherine and his friend and family solicitor Desmond Curry, launches a concerted effort to clear Ronnie's name. This is no small matter, as, under English law, Admiralty decisions were official acts of the government, which could not be sued without its consent—traditionally expressed by theattorney general responding to apetition of right with the formula "Let Right be done".
The Winslows succeed in engaging the most highly sought-afterbarrister in England at the time, Sir Robert Morton, known also as a shrewd opposition Member of Parliament. Catherine had expected Sir Robert to decline the case, or at best to treat it as a political football; instead, he is coolly matter-of-fact about having been persuaded of Ronnie's innocence by his responses to questioning (in fact, a form of cross-examination, to see how young Ronnie would hold up in court) in the presence of his family, and is shown mustering his political forces in theHouse of Commons on the Winslows' behalf with little concern for the cost to his faction. Catherine remains unconvinced of Sir Robert's sincerity, perhaps not least because of his record of opposition to the cause ofwomen's suffrage, but also due to his dispassionate manner in the midst of the Winslow family's financial sacrifices.
The government is strongly disinclined to allow the case to proceed, claiming that it is a distraction from pressing Admiralty business; but in the face of public sympathy garnered through Winslow and Catherine's efforts, and of Sir Robert's impassioned speech on the verge of defeat in the Commons, the government yields, and the case is allowed to come to court. At trial, Sir Robert (working together with Desmond Curry and his firm) is able to discredit much of the supposed evidence. The Admiralty, embarrassed and no longer confident of Ronnie's guilt, abruptly withdraws all charges against him, proclaiming him entirely innocent.
Although the family has won the case at law and lifted the cloud over Ronnie, it has taken its toll on the rest. His father's physical health has deteriorated under the strain, as to some degree has the happiness of the Winslows' home. The costs of the suit and the publicity campaign have eaten up his older brother Dickie's Oxford tuition, and hence his chance at a career in the civil service, as well as Catherine's marriage settlement. Her fiancé John Watherstone has broken off the engagement in the face of opposition from his father (an Army Colonel), forcing her to consider a sincere and well-intentioned offer of marriage from Desmond, whom she does not love. Sir Robert, on his part, has declined appointment as Lord Chief Justice rather than drop the case. The play ends with a suggestion that romance may yet blossom between Sir Robert and Catherine, who acknowledges that she has misjudged him all along. The last couplet of the dialogue ("How little you know women, Sir Robert" and "How little you know men, Miss Winslow") seems to bolster this implication.
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In the play, Rattigan quotes from actual parliamentary debates and court transcripts but makes major changes to the characters and the timing of events.
In the play, it was the accused boy's father who first believed in his innocence; in fact, it was an older brother, Martin, who persuaded their father, and used his influence as an MP to involve Carson in the case.
Martin Archer-Shee junior was a very different character from the failed university student, Dickie Winslow, of the play. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1910, and in his mid-thirties at the time of the case. Arthur Winslow was also made less prosperous than his factual counterpart.
Although Archer-Shee did have a sister, she did not have much in common with Catherine Winslow in the play, asuffragette and, as we learn in the final lines of the play, a potential future politician. To some extent then, Rattigan has reversed the character and roles of the brother and sister. Also, her erstwhile fiancé, John Watherstone, and Desmond Curry, a solicitor who eventually proposes to Catherine, appear to be fictional.
Whilst the play gives only indirect reference to the court case and the parliamentary debates, the 1948 film introduces scenes from these events that are not in the play.
Rattigan also moved the events closer to the start ofWorld War I, though the conflict is remote from the characters. In fact, both George and Martin Archer-Shee fought in the First World War; Martin commanded an infantry battalion, andGeorge who had returned toStonyhurst College after the trial, was killed, at the age of 19, in theFirst Battle of Ypres. His name is recorded in the Stonyhurst War Record;[3] inscribed on the war memorial in the village ofWoodchester, Gloucestershire, where his parents lived; on the memorial plaque outside the CatholicSt Mary on the Quay church inBristol city centre, where he had been an altar boy; on the war memorial at theUniversity of Roehampton, established by theSociety of the Sacred Heart (George's half-sister Winefrede Archer Shee having been a religious follower of the Society); and on Tablet 35 of theMenin Gate inYpres, as he has no known grave.
The play's London premiere in 1946 featuredEmlyn Williams,Mona Washbourne,Angela Baddeley,Kathleen Harrison,Frank Cellier,Jack Watling andClive Morton.[4] It was under the direction ofGlen Byam Shaw.[5]
The play's Broadway premiere in 1947 featured Frank Allenby as Sir Robert,Alan Webb as Arthur Winslow, and Valerie White as Catherine Winslow.[6]
The play was later made into a1948 film directed byAnthony Asquith, starringRobert Donat as Sir Robert Morton KC, SirCedric Hardwicke as Arthur Winslow, andMargaret Leighton as Catherine Winslow.[7] Both Mona Washbourne and Kathleen Harrison, who had been in the original theatre production, appeared.[8]
A production starringKenneth More as Sir Robert Morton,Lawrence Naismith as Arthur Winslow andAnnette Crosbie as Catherine Winslow played from 1970 to 1971 at various theatres including theNew Theatre, London.[9]
A 1984 revival directed byJeremy Sinden starringMarius Goring as Arthur Winslow andAllan Cuthbertson as Sir Robert Morton played at the Forum Theatre, Wythenshawe, theOrchard Theatre, Dartford, theGrand Opera House, Belfast, theBeck Theatre, Hayes and theAshcroft Theatre, Croydon.[10]
A 1994 production starringSimon Williams as Sir Robert,Peter Barkworth as Arthur Winslow,Eve Matheson as Catherine andCharles Edwards as Dickie Winslow played at theGlobe Theatre, London.[11]
A1999 film version, directed byDavid Mamet, starredNigel Hawthorne as Arthur Winslow,Jeremy Northam as Morton, andRebecca Pidgeon as Catherine.[12]
A 2013 production starringPeter Sullivan as Sir Robert,Henry Goodman as Arthur Winslow,Naomi Frederick as Catherine andNick Hendrix as Dickie Winslow played atThe Old Vic, London.[13]
A 2024 amateur production will be staged at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art later this year.[14]
The play has also been adapted for television by the BBC several times, including a 1949 production starringRoger Livesey as Sir Robert Morton andJack Watling as Dickie Winslow (he had played Dickie in the 1948 film version),[15] a 1958 production withPeter Cushing as Morton andGwen Watford as Catherine Winslow,[16] a 1977 production starringAlan Badel as Morton,Eric Porter as Arthur Winslow andMichele Dotrice as Catherine Winslow[17] and a 1989 production starringGordon Jackson as Arthur Winslow,Ian Richardson as Morton, andEmma Thompson as Catherine.[18]
The Winslow Boy was presented on theBBC Home ServiceSaturday Night Theatre 15 November 1947. The performance starredDavid Spenser,Frank Cellier, and Molly Rankin.[19]
The Winslow Boy was presented onTheatre Guild on the Air 23 November 1952. The one-hour adaptation starredBasil Rathbone,Alan Webb, andMargaret Phillips.[20]
A production was broadcast on theBBC Light Programme on 6 May 1953 withDennis Arundell as Morton,Cecil Trouncer as Arthur Winslow andAngela Baddeley as Catherine Winslow.[21]
AnotherBBC Home Service production was broadcast on 30 January 1965 starringMarius Goring as Sir Robert Morton,Lockwood West as Arthur Winslow andMary Wimbush as Catherine Winslow.[22]
A 1981 production onBBC Radio 4 featuredAubrey Woods as Morton,Michael Aldridge as Arthur Winslow,Sarah Badel as Catherine andMichael Maloney as Dickie Winslow.[23]
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