Howes, Samuel Musgrove, 1907-1988.

Samuel Musgrove Howes was born in West Ham, London, in 1907. He was educated (by Trade Scholarship) at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation, Poplar, 1921-1923. He apprenticed as a motor mechanic at a Ford Service Depot, Nottingham, 1923-1926.

Howes began work as a chauffeur in 1926, obtaining a First Class Chauffeur's Certificate from the Royal Automobile Club in 1928. He served as Sir Winston Churchill's chauffeur from 1928 to 1936. In 1932, he married the Churchills' parlour maid, Olive. After Howes worked as an engineer in Great Britain, he and his wife moved to Canada in 1955 and to California in 1957. He retired as Group Engineer at the Solar Aircraft Company in San Diego, Ca., in 1970.

Howes died in California in 1988. He maintained correspondence with Churchill; Churchill's wife, Lady Clementine Spencer Churchill; and Churchill's daughter, Mary Soames, throughout his life.

[Adapted from Winston S. Churchill, Martin Gilbert. Companion Volume 5, Part 3, p. 502.]

From the guide to the Samuel Musgrove Howes Papers, 1936-1987, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Rare Book Literary and Historical Papers.)