criticise the Prime Minister. As a result, when Garvin published an editorial in February 1942 in support of Churchill remaining in office as Minister of Defence as well as Prime Minister, the Astors viewed it as a breach of their contract and requested Garvin's resignation. Garvin was made a Companion of Honour in the 1941 New Year's Honours List. He had previously declined honours from Lloyd George in 1918, and Ramsay MacDonald in 1929. Garvin quickly received an offer from Lord Beaverbrook to write a weekly column for his newspaper the Sunday Express. Switching to the Daily Telegraph in January 1945, Garvin continued to write a weekly column until just prior to his death from pneumonia at the age of 78. Personal life Garvin was married twice. In 1894 he married Christina Ellen Wilson, who bore him his son Ged and four daughters: Viola, Una, Katherine, and Ursula. After Christina's death in 1918, Garvin married Viola Woods (née Taylor), the former wife of Unionist politician Maurice Woods. Works References Further reading , 1985 , 1948 , 1960 , 2009 External links Portraits of James Garvin at the National Portrait Gallery, London Working papers of David Ayerst for his biography of J.L. Garvin, a special collection in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University British male journalists British newspaper editors Encyclopædia Britannica 1868 births 1947 deaths The Observer people People from Birkenhead Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour