The Winslow Boy

The Winslow Boy is a 1946 stage-play by the English playwright Terence Rattigan. Set in 1912, the play follows the efforts of the Winslow family to clear the name of fourteen-year-old Ronnie Winslow, expelled from naval college for allegedly stealing a five-shilling postal order. Forced to hire the country’s leading barrister, the Winslows sacrifice their upper-middle-class financial security for the sake of the family honor. The Winslow Boy is based on the real-life expulsion of George Archer-Shee from the Royal Naval College at Osborne in 1908, and the sensational legal proceedings that followed.

The play opens as Ronnie Winslow arrives home. He explains to the family’s maid, Violet, that he has been accused of stealing a postal order from another student and expelled. He is very frightened. When his family arrives home from church—parents, Arthur and Grace, siblings, Dickie and Catherine—Ronnie runs out into the rain to hide from them.

We learn that Arthur is dissatisfied with Dickie’s progress at Oxford. Arthur is paying for his tuition and he doesn’t want the money to be wasted. Dickie grumbles that Ronnie is their father’s favorite.



We also learn that Catherine is engaged to John Watherstone. Grace is worried that Catherine’s suffragist views will put her fiancé off, but John allays these fears by arriving to ask Arthur’s permission to marry his daughter. Arthur agrees to provide a dowry.

Arthur discovers that Ronnie has been expelled. After rebuking Ronnie for hiding rather than telling the truth, he asks Ronnie whether he is guilty of stealing the postal order. Ronnie denies it. Arthur believes his son and immediately contacts the family’s solicitor, Desmond Curry.

Curry and the Winslows hire Sir Robert Morton, the country’s leading barrister and an opposition Member of Parliament. Sir Robert explains that Ronnie’s expulsion is an act of the Admiralty, in effect, an act of the government itself, which under English law cannot be sued without its consent. To clear Ronnie’s name, the Winslows must submit a “petition of right” requesting permission to sue the Crown.



Sir Robert then cross-examines Ronnie in courtroom style. Ronnie becomes distressed and admits to some suspicious behavior. Catherine and Arthur are upset: they question Sir Robert’s aggressive approach. Sir Robert calmly breaks off and leaves, remarking, “The boy is plainly innocent.”

Catherine has taken an instant dislike to Sir Robert’s cool demeanor. She knows that he is opposed to the suffragist movement, and she suspects that he will use Ronnie’s case as a political opportunity. She uses her political experience to muster press support for Ronnie’s cause. However, the Winslows’ attack on the Admiralty is unpopular at a time when Europe seems to be sliding into war.

Meanwhile, we see Sir Robert set about mustering political support in the House of Commons, thinking only of justice, not of the political cost to his party. With a last-minute passionate speech in the House, Sir Robert pressures the government into allowing the case to proceed.



At trial, Sir Robert and Desmond discredit the Admiralty’s evidence, and the Admiralty withdraws all charges, greatly embarrassed. Sir Robert brings the news to the Winslows. When Catherine accuses him of being emotionless, he admits to crying at the verdict, because he was so glad to see that “Right” had been done.

Victory brings little relief to the Winslows. Due to the financial stress of the case, Dickie has had to withdraw from Oxford, forsaking his chance at a career in the Civil Service. Arthur has been forced to let Violet go, upsetting Grace, and putting a strain on their marriage. Arthur’s health has suffered. The publicity surrounding the case has also taken its toll: under pressure from his military father, Watherstone has broken off his engagement with Catherine. Desmond proposes to her, and she is forced to consider it, even though she knows she does not love the solicitor. Arthur apologizes to Catherine for the toll the case has taken on her prospects, but they agree that they took the only course available to them in the face of “tyranny” and “injustice.” Even Sir Robert’s prospects have suffered as a result of the case: he has turned down the prestigious position of Lord Chief Justice to continue working on it.

The play’s final lines offer a ray of hope for Catherine, at least. She realizes she has misjudged Sir Robert, and a moment’s flirting suggests an attraction between the two of them. He says he hopes to see her in Parliament again, and Catherine replies that if she does it will be as a colleague, not to watch him work. “Perhaps,” is Sir Robert’s response.



Rattigan is one of Britain’s most successful twentieth-century playwrights, and The Winslow Boy is his most popular play. It has twice been adapted as a film of the same title, in 1948 and 1999. The 1999 film was directed by David Mamet and starred Nigel Hawthorne.