Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Earl of Hopetoun
Succeeded bySir Savile Crossley, Bt
Member of the House of Lords
as Duke of Marlborough
In office
8 November 1892 – 30 June 1934
Preceded byGeorge Spencer-Churchill
Succeeded byJohn Spencer-Churchill
Personal details
Born
Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill

(1871-11-13)13 November 1871
Simla, British India
Died30 June 1934(1934-06-30) (aged 62)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouses
​
​
(m. 1895; ann. 1921)​
Gladys Deacon

​
​
(m. 1921)​
ChildrenJohn Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough
Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill
Parent(s)George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough
Lady Albertha Hamilton
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge

PC (13 November 1871 – 30 June 1934), styled Earl of Sunderland until 1883 and Marquess of Blandford between 1883 and 1892, was a British soldier and Conservative politician, and a close friend of his first cousin Winston Churchill. He was often known as "Sunny" Marlborough after his courtesy title
of Earl of Sunderland.

Early life and education

Born at

Sir Winston Churchill,[citation needed] with whom he had a close and lifelong friendship. He was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Cambridge.[1]

Political career

Drawing of the 9th Duke in Mayoral robes by Tennyson Cole, 1907

Marlborough entered the

Privy Council in 1899.[3]

He again held political office during the

coalition government.[citation needed] He made his last speech in the House of Lords in December 1931.[2]

Shortly before the

Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter (KG) at Buckingham Palace on 30 May 1902.[4][5] He subsequently served as Lord High Steward at the coronation the following August (the coronation had originally been scheduled for June).[6] He went to India to attend the January 1903 Delhi Durbar as a guest of the Viceroy, Lord Curzon.[7]

The Duke of Marlborough was Mayor of Woodstock between 1907 and 1909, and Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire from 1915 until his death.[citation needed]

He was President of the National Fire Brigades Union[8] and founded the British Cotton Growers Association.[1] He was also, after his father, a prominent member of the Ancient Order of Druids, and patron of the prestigious AOD Albion Lodge based at Oxford.[9] On 10 August 1908, in the park of Blenheim Palace, he welcomed the ceremony of initiation of his cousin, Winston Churchill, as a Druid.[10]

Military career

Marlborough was appointed a

Naauwpoort in Northern Cape Colony with the Oxford company of the Imperial Yeomanry.[13]

He was subsequently appointed Assistant Military Secretary to Lord Roberts, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in South Africa, and was aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Ian Hamilton.[14]

He was

Territorial Army he was appointed honorary colonel of the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1908.[14]

He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel of his yeomanry regiment in 1910, serving until 1914. He was awarded the

Volunteer Training Corps from 1918 to 1920.[16]

Marriages and issue

to the Court of Catherine the Great
.

Marlborough was married twice. His first wife was the American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt, whom he married at Saint Thomas Church in New York City on 6 November 1895. The marriage was a mercenary one. Inheriting his near-bankrupt dukedom in 1892, he was forced to find a quick and drastic solution to the financial problems of his family. Prevented by the strict social dictates of late 19th-century society from earning money, he was left with one solution; to marry money.

The marriage was celebrated following lengthy negotiations with his bride's divorced parents: her mother,

Beech Creek Railway Company with a minimum 4% dividend guaranteed by the New York Central Railroad Company. The couple were each given a further annual income of $100,000 for life. The bride later claimed she had been locked in her room until she agreed to the marriage. The contract was actually signed in the vestry of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, immediately after the wedding vows had been made. Whilst they honeymooned in Europe, Marlborough told Consuelo that he actually loved another woman but had married her to "save Blenheim".[18]

They had two sons, John Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford, eventually the 10th Duke of Marlborough, and Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill. Their mother famously referred to them as "the heir and the spare".[19]

The Vanderbilt dowry was used to restore Blenheim Palace and replenish its furnishings and library, for many of the original contents had been sold over the course of the 19th century. Many of the jewels worn by subsequent Duchesses of Marlborough also date from this period.[citation needed] The 9th Duke employed noted landscape gardener Achille Duchêne to create the water garden on the terrace at Blenheim.[20] In 1934 he owned 19,685 acres of land.[14]

However, Consuelo was far from happy; she recorded many of her problems in her autobiography The Glitter and the Gold. Consuelo was also unfaithful; her liaisons included her first love, Winthrop Rutherfurd (who was alleged to be the father of her second son, Lord Ivor, since he allegedly bore no resemblance to either the Duke or his brother), and three of her husband's cousins: Hon. Freddie Guest (son of Ivor Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne, and Lady Cornelia Spencer-Churchill), Hon. Reginald Fellowes (son of William Fellowes, 2nd Baron de Ramsey, and Lady Rosamund Spencer-Churchill) and Charles, Viscount Castlereagh.

The couple shocked society by separating in 1906. In order to facilitate the divorce, Alva Vanderbilt testified that she had coerced her daughter into marrying the Duke.[21] The couple were divorced in 1921; the marriage was annulled by the Vatican on 19 August 1926, no doubt facilitated by the Duke's wish to become a Roman Catholic.[citation needed] Consuelo subsequently married a Frenchman, Jacques Balsan. She died in 1964, having lived to see her son become Duke of Marlborough; she frequently returned to Blenheim, the house she had found uncomfortable and inconvenient when living there.[22]

In the late 1890s, the Duke invited to Blenheim Palace

Gladys Deacon, another American, who became friends with Consuelo.[23] Deacon, the daughter of Edward Parker Deacon, became the Duke's mistress soon after moving into the palace. She and Marlborough were married on 25 June 1921 in Paris, shortly after his divorce from Consuelo.[23]

Later in life the Duke converted to

Catholicism in 1927, around which time the couple began drifting apart and Deacon took to keeping a revolver in her bedroom to prevent her husband’s entry.[24] He moved out of the palace, and two years later evicted her. The couple separated but never divorced.[1][25]

In popular culture

Marlborough was played by David Markham in the ITV drama Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Churchill (Spencer-Churchill), Charles Richard John, Marquess of Blandford (CHRL890CR)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ^ a b "Mr Charles Spencer-Churchill". History of Parliament. Parliament of the UK. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  3. ^ "No. 27048". The London Gazette. 3 February 1899. p. 681.
  4. ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36782. London. 31 May 1902. p. 8.
  5. ^ "No. 27442". The London Gazette. 13 June 1902. p. 3833.
  6. ^ "No. 27489". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 October 1902. p. 6865.
  7. ^ "Latest Intelligence - The Delhi Durbar". The Times. No. 36967. London. 2 January 1903. p. 3.
  8. ^ "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36768. London. 15 May 1902. p. 12.
  9. ^ Hutton 2009, p. 321.
  10. ^ Hutton 2009, p. 318.
  11. ^ "No. 27159". The London Gazette. 30 January 1900. p. 691.
  12. ^ "No. 27155". The London Gazette. 19 January 1900. p. 362.
  13. ^ "Latest intelligence – The War". The Times. No. 36083. London. 3 March 1900. p. 5.
  14. ^ a b c Who's Who, 1934. A and C Black. p. 2199.
  15. ^ "No. 27383". The London Gazette. 6 December 1901. p. 8644.
  16. ^
    OCLC 4309246
  17. OCLC 248937067
    .
  18. ^ Stuart 2005, p. 178.
  19. ^ Stuart 2005, p. 224.
  20. OCLC 1345649607
    – via Internet Archive.
  21. ^ Howard, Victoria (16 January 2017). "The American Heiresses who saved the British Aristocracy: Conseulo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough • The Crown Chronicles". The Crown Chronicles. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  22. ^ Stuart 2005, p. 205.
  23. ^ a b "What happened to Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough?". BBC News. 17 February 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  24. ^ Vickers, Hugo (30 July 2020). "Gladys, Duchess of Marlborough: the aristocrat with attitude". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  25. ^ Stuart 2005, p. 453.

Sources

External links

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Political offices
Preceded by
The Earl of Hopetoun
 Paymaster General
1899–1902 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
1903–1905 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the
Board of Agriculture and Fisheries
1917–1918
with Sir Richard Winfrey 		Succeeded by
Court offices
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Title last held by
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1902 		Vacant
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Honorary titles
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 Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire
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Peerage of England
Preceded by Duke of Marlborough
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