Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough

Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, KG, TD, 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.

His Grace The Duke of Marlborough KG TD PC
The Duke of Marlborough in 1900
Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries
In office 1917–1918 Serving with Sir Richard Winfrey
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Sir Richard Winfrey
Succeeded by	The Viscount Goschen
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
In office 22 July 1903 – 4 December 1905
Prime Minister	Arthur Balfour
Preceded by	The Earl of Onslow
Succeeded by	Winston Churchill
Paymaster-General
In office 1899 – 11 March 1902
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	The Earl of Hopetoun
Succeeded by	Sir Savile Crossley, Bt
Member of the House of Lords as Duke of Marlborough
In office 8 November 1892 – 30 June 1934
Preceded by	George Spencer-Churchill
Succeeded by	John Spencer-Churchill
Personal details
Born	Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill (1871-11-13)13 November 1871 Simla, British India
Died	30 June 1934(1934-06-30) (aged 62)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Consuelo Vanderbilt ​ ( m. 1895; annulled  1921) Gladys Deacon ​ ( m. 1921)
Children	John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill
Parents	George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough Lady Albertha Spencer-Churchill
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Early life and education

Born at Simla, British India, Marlborough was the only son of the then Marquess of Blandford (who succeeded as The 8th Duke of Marlborough in July 1883) and Lady Albertha Frances Anne, daughter of The 1st Duke of Abercorn. He was a nephew of Lord Randolph Churchill and a first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill,[1] with whom he had a close and lifelong friendship. He was a fourth cousin twice removed of Diana, Princess of Wales.[2] He was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Cambridge.[3]

Political career

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

Marlborough entered the House of Lords on the early death of his father in 1892, and made his maiden speech in August 1895.[4] In 1899, he was appointed Paymaster-General by Lord Salisbury, a post he held until 1902. He was then Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies under Arthur Balfour between 1903 and 1905.[1] He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1899.[5]

He again held political office during the First World War, when he was Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries between 1917 and 1918 in David Lloyd George's coalition government.[1] He made his last speech in the House of Lords in December 1931.[4]

Shortly before the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, Marlborough was invested as a knight of the Order of the Garter (KG) at Buckingham Palace on 30 May 1902.[6][7] He subsequently served as Lord High Steward at the coronation the following August (the coronation had originally been scheduled for June).[8]

The Duke of Marlborough was Mayor of Woodstock between 1907 and 1909, and Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire from 1915 until his death.[1]

He was President of the National Fire Brigades Union[9] and founded the British Cotton Growers Association.[3] 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.[10] On 10 August 1908, in the park of Blenheim palace, he welcomed the ceremony of initiation of his cousin, Winston Churchill as a Druid.[11]

Military career

Garter encircled shield of arms of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, KG, as displayed on his Order of the Garter stall plate in St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

Marlborough was appointed a Lieutenant in the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars in 1897. After the outbreak of the Second Boer War, he was in January 1900 seconded for service as a Staff Captain in the Imperial Yeomanry serving in South Africa,[12] and received the temporary rank of Captain.[13] He arrived in Cape Town in March 1900, and left for Naauwpoort in Northern Cape Colony with the Oxford company of the Imperial Yeomanry.[14]

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.[15]

He was mentioned in despatches and promoted to Major on 7 December 1901.[16] After the formation of the Territorial Army he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in 1908.[15]

He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel of his yeomanry regiment in 1910, serving until 1914. He was awarded the Territorial Decoration (TD) in 1913.[17] He rejoined during the First World War, when he served as a Lieutenant-Colonel on the General Staff[1] in France. During a visit at the Western Front to his cousin Winston who was then serving in the trenches, both narrowly missed being killed when a piece of shrapnel (now displayed at Blenheim Palace) fell between them.[18] He was later Honorary Colonel and commandant of the Oxfordshire Volunteer Regiment of the Volunteer Training Corps from 1918 to 1920.[17]

Marriages and issue

Portrait of the Spencer-Churchill family by John Singer Sargent, 1905.

The Duke at the Devonshire House Ball of 1897, dressed as the French Ambassador 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, Alva Vanderbilt, was desperate to see her daughter a duchess, and the bride's father, William Vanderbilt, paid for the privilege. The final price was $2,500,000 (worth about $62m in 2007) in 50,000 shares of the capital stock of the 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 in order to "save Blenheim".[19]

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".[20]

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. The 9th Duke employed noted landscape gardener Achille Duchêne to create the water garden on the terrace at Blenheim.[21] In 1934 he owned 19,685 acres of land.[15]

However, Consuelo was far from happy; she records many of her problems in her cynical and candid biography The Glitter and the Gold. Later in their unhappy, childless marriage, she kept a revolver in her bedroom to prevent her husband's entry.[22] She shocked society by leaving her husband in 1906. In order to facilitate the divorce, Alva Vanderbilt testified that the marriage was coerced[23] The couple were divorced in 1921; the marriage was annulled by the Vatican five years later, no doubt facilitated by the duke's wish to become a Roman Catholic.[1] 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.[24]

In the late 1890s, the Duke invited to Blenheim Palace Gladys Deacon, another American, who became friends with Consuelo.[25] 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.[25]

Later in life the Duke converted to Catholicism in 1927 which coincident at the same time the couple began drifting apart.[26] Finally, the duke moved out of the palace, and two years later evicted her. The couple separated but never divorced.[3][22]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough

8. George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough 4. John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough 9. Lady Jane Stewart 2. George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough 10. Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry 5. Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane 11. Lady Frances Anne Vane-Tempest 1. Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough 12. James Hamilton, Viscount Hamilton 6. James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn 13. Harriet Douglas 3. Lady Albertha Frances Anne Hamilton 14. John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford 7. Lady Louisa Jane Russell 15. Lady Georgina Gordon

In popular culture

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

References

1. "- Person Page 10595". Retrieved 21 December 2015.
2. "Family relationship of Sir Winston Churchill and Princess Diana via Henry Bayly alias Paget". famouskin.com. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
3. "Churchill (Spencer-Churchill), Charles Richard John, Marquess of Blandford (CHRL890CR)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
4. "Mr Charles Spencer-Churchill". History of Parliament. Parliament of the UK. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
5. "No. 27048". The London Gazette. 3 February 1899. p. 681.
6. "Court Circular". The Times (36782). London. 31 May 1902. p. 8.
7. "No. 27442". The London Gazette. 13 June 1902. p. 3833.
8. "No. 27489". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 October 1902. p. 6865.
9. "Court Circular". The Times (36768). London. 15 May 1902. p. 12.
10. Ronald Hutton, Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2009, p.321.
11. Idem, p.318.
12. "No. 27159". The London Gazette. 30 January 1900. p. 691.
13. "No. 27155". The London Gazette. 19 January 1900. p. 362.
14. "Latest intelligence - The War". The Times (36083). London. 3 March 1900. p. 5.
15. Who's Who, 1934. A and C Black. p. 2199.
16. "No. 27383". The London Gazette. 6 December 1901. p. 8644.
17. Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1934. Kelly's. p. 1209.
18. Green, David (1980). Blenheim Palace. The Blenheim Estate Office. p. 17.Guide to Blenheim Palace.
19. Vanderbilt, Amanda Mackenzie. Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-06-621418-4.
20. Vanderbilt, Amanda Mackenzie. Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-06-621418-4.
21. Pevsner, Nikolaus; Sherwood, Jennifer (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 459–475. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
22. Mackenzie Stuart, Amanda (2005). Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt: The Story of a Daughter and a Mother in the Gilded Age. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780066214184. OCLC 62128037.
23. https://thecrownchronicles.co.uk/history/history-posts/conseulo-vanderbilt-duchess-of-marlborough-dollar-princess-american-heiress/
24. Vanderbilt, Amanda Mackenzie. Consuelo and Alva Vanderbilt. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-06-621418-4.
25. "BBC – What happened to Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough?". Retrieved 21 December 2015.
26. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/8303256/Gladys-Duchess-of-Marlborough-the-aristocrat-with-attitude.html

External links

• Works by or about Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough at Internet Archive
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough

Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Hopetoun	Paymaster-General 1899–1902	Succeeded by Sir Savile Crossley, Bt
Preceded by The Earl of Onslow	Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies 1903–1905	Succeeded by Winston Churchill
Preceded by Sir Richard Winfrey	Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries 1917–1918 with Sir Richard Winfrey	Succeeded by Sir Richard Winfrey The Viscount Goschen
Honorary titles
Vacant Title last held by The Earl of Halsbury	Lord High Steward 1902	Vacant Title next held by The Duke of Northumberland
Preceded by The Earl of Jersey	Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire 1915–1934	Succeeded by Vivian Smith
Peerage of England
Preceded by George Spencer-Churchill	Duke of Marlborough 1892–1934	Succeeded by John Spencer-Churchill