Winston Churchill was among Barrymore's many new friends in England. Churchill reportedly proposed to her in 1900; Barrymore mentions no such thing in her autobiography, though she includes a photograph of herself and Churchill on the lawn at Blenheim Palace in 1899. While touring in England at age 19, she had been rumored to be engaged to the Duke of Manchester, actor Gerald du Maurier, writer Richard Harding Davis and Churchill. Upon her engagement to Laurence Irving, son of Sir Henry Irving, an old friend of Mrs. John Drew, she cabled her father Maurice, who responded with a cable "Congratulations!" When she broke up with Irving, she cabled Maurice who wired back, "Congratulations!"