Person    | Male  Born 19/5/1909  Died 1/7/2015

Sir Nicholas Winton

Categories: Children, Peace

Sir Nicholas George Winton MBE was a British banker and humanitarian who established an organisation to rescue children at risk from Nazi Germany. Born to German-Jewish parents who had emigrated to Britain at the beginning of the 20th century, Winton supervised the rescue of 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Czechoslovakia on the eve of WW2. Winton found homes for the children and arranged for their safe passage to Britain. This operation was later known as the Czech Kindertransport (German for "children's transport").

Born in Hampstead as Nicholas George Wertheim. His parents were German Jews who had moved to London two years earlier. They changed the family name to Winton and converted to Christianity. In 1938-9 he became involved, with others, in the work to get Jewish children out of Europe before the war began. Only Britain and Sweden agreed to take children. America was asked but failed to take any.

His rescue work was unknown until 1983 when he became a national hero and was honoured. Died, aged 106, in Slough.

There are statues of Winton at Prague railway station (by Flor Kent) and at Maidenhead railway station.

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Sir Nicholas Winton

Creations i

Kindertransport - Kent

{Carved into the right side of the plinth:} Pro dítě {Czech for “for the chil...

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Other Subjects

Effie Bourne Taylour

Effie Bourne Taylour

One of the 11 "children of England" present on 7th July 1933 when The Princess Royal laid a foundation stone for a nurses home for the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Person, Children

1 memorial
Jeanne Southwell

Jeanne Southwell

One of the 11 "children of England" present on 7th July 1933 when The Princess Royal laid a foundation stone for a nurses home for the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Person, Children

1 memorial
Sir Alan Johnstone

Sir Alan Johnstone

Diplomat. Attended Eton, 1871-7. See his brother Francis for family information.  Married an American heiress Antoinette Pinchot. His job took him to Denmark, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Luxemb...

Person, Children, Politics & Administration, Social Welfare

1 memorial
George Claydon

George Claydon

Drowned in the 1898 HMS Albion disaster, aged 14. Buried in grave 2 at the memorial in East London Cemetery.

Person, Children, Tragedy

1 memorial
Joe Cahill

Joe Cahill

Devoted many years of his life to working with young people at Coram's Fields. Died before Spring 1993.

Person, Children

1 memorial

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Board of Ordnance / Royal Army Ordnance Corps

Board of Ordnance / Royal Army Ordnance Corps

Responsible for the supply of armaments and munitions to the army and the navy, based in the Tower of London and also used Verbruggen's House at the Woolwich Arsenal until 1939. Disbanded in 1855 d...

Group, Armed Forces

4 memorials
Rick Hunter

Rick Hunter

N16, Northwold Road

On a re-visit, 10 years later in 2021, the plaque had been firmly screwed to its backing panel and that panel together with its stake was...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator