Great Military Commanders:

John Churchill Marlborough

Main Life Accomplishments:

He was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries. His rise to prominence began as a lowly page in the royal court of Stuart England, but his natural courage on the field of battle soon ensured quick promotion and recognition from his master and mentor James, Duke of York. When James became king in 1685, Churchill played a major role in crushing the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion; but just three years later, Churchill abandoned his Catholic king for the Protestant William of Orange.

Honoured at William's coronation, Churchill, now the Earl of Marlborough, served with distinction in Ireland and Flanders during the War of the Grand Alliance. However, throughout the reign of William and Mary, their relationship with Marlborough and his influential wife Sarah, remained cool. After damaging allegations of collusion with the exiled court of King James, Marlborough was dismissed from all civil and military offices and temporarily imprisoned in the Tower of London. Only after the death of Mary, and the threat of another major European war, did Marlborough return to favour with William.

Marlborough's influence at court reached its zenith with the accession of Sarah's close friend Queen Anne. Promoted to Captain-General of British forces, and later to a dukedom, Marlborough found international fame in the War of the Spanish Succession where, on the fields of Blenheim, Ramillies and Oudenarde, his place in history as one of Europe's great generals was assured. However, when his wife fell from royal grace as Queen Anne's favourite, the Tories, determined on peace with France, pressed for his downfall. Marlborough was dismissed from all civil and military offices on charges of embezzlement, but the Duke eventually regained favour with the accession of George I in 171
 

Basics:

Born:  Born 26 May 1650 in Ashe House, Devon

Died: Died 27 June 1722 ( years old) at Windsor Lodge

Nationality:  American

Religion:  Anglican

Fields:  Military, Politics

Main Accomplishments:  Duke of Marlborough.

 

Chronology of Life Events:

May 26, 1650

Birth of John Marlborough
 

Sep 14, 1667
He obtained a commission as ensign in the King's Own Company in the 1st Guards
 

1668

Churchill sailed for the North African outpost of Tangier,
 

1672

Churchill went to sea again. Whilst fighting the Dutch navy at the Battle of Solebay off the Suffolk coast
 

1677

Colonel Churchill married Sarah sometime in the winter of 1677–78
 

Aug 1685

He was awarded the lucrative colonelcy of the Third Troop of Life Guards
 

1688
Churchill slipped from the royal camp and rode towards William in Axminster
 

1689

Churchill was created Earl of Marlborough
 

Aug 25, 1689
Marlborough won praise from the Dutch commander, Prince Waldeck,
 

1690

Marlborough was appointed a member of the Council of Nine to advise Queen Mary in the King's absence
 

1691

Marlborough had been in contact with James at Saint-Germain.
 

1696

Marlborough, together with Godolphin, Russell and Shrewsbury, was yet again implicated in a treasonous plot with King James, this time instigated by the Jacobite militant Sir John Fenwick
 

May 15, 1702

Marlborough was given command of the British, Dutch and hired German forces, but the command had its limitations
 

1702

He had captured Venlo, Roermond, Stevensweert and Liege in the Spanish Netherlands
 

May 23, 1706

Marlborough inflicted "the most shameful, humiliating and disastrous of routs" on French forces,
 

1708

Marlborough was able to regain the strategic initiative for the Allies
 

1716

The Duke (John) suffered a paralytic stroke at Holywell House
 

1719

The Duke and Duchess were able to move into the east wing of the unfinished palace
 

1722

He suffered another stoke
 

Jun 27, 1722

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, died.
 

Early Life:

John Churchill was born about June 1, 1650, at Ashe in Devonshire, was educated at St. Paul's School in London, and as early as 1667 had a position with the Duke of York and a commission in the guards. Strikingly handsome and charming, Churchill was also ambitious and acquisitive. He might have married for wealth and position, but he married for love, choosing the beautiful and imperious Sarah Jennings, already (1678) a favorite with Princess Anne. When the Duke of York became king, Churchill continued to enjoy his favor. He became Baron Churchill in 1685 and held military commands but took no active part in politics beyond consolidating his position with Princess Anne.

The Revolution of 1688 saw Marlborough desert James II at a critical point, and his wife helped persuade Anne to desert the King, her father. Churchill's assistance to the new king was rewarded. William III made him Earl of Marlborough and gave him commands in Ireland and on the Continent. A rift soon developed between the King and his sister-in-law Anne, and the Churchills were involved. When Marlborough was discovered writing to the exiled James, he was dismissed from his posts on suspicion of treason. Only in 1701, with war against France (over dividing up the Spanish Empire) about to break out, did William relent, appointing Marlborough commander in chief. Marlborough was then in his fiftysecond year; had he died at this point, his name would be practically unknown.

With William III's death (1702) Anne became queen, and she put Marlborough in charge of military and diplomatic affairs, with his friend Sidney Godolphin in charge of finances and Robert Harley manager of the Commons. It was this three-man team which successfully carried on the first 6 years of the war. These were also the years of Marlborough's great victories. Campaigns in 1702 and 1703 were uneventful largely because Marlborough was engaged in strenuous efforts to keep together the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV of France.
 

Wife Background:

Sarah Jennings was born on May 29, 1660, in Holywell, Hertfordshire. She was the daughter of Richard Jennings (or Jenyns), a Member of Parliament, and Frances Thornhurst. Richard Jennings came into contact with James, Duke of York (the future James II, brother of King Charles II) in 1663, during negotiations for the recovery of an estate. His first impressions were favourable, and in 1664 Sarah’s sister, Frances, was appointed maid of honour to the Duchess of York, Anne Hyde. Although Frances was forced to give up the post because of her marriage to a Catholic, his memory of the family remained, as in 1667 Sarah entered court as maid of honour to James’ second duchess, Mary of Modena.

Sarah became close to the young Princess Anne at this time, and the closeness, which later developed into friendship, grew stronger as the two grew older. At the age of seventeen, in 1676, she met, and was courted by, her future husband John Churchill. Although the two connected, Churchill had previously been a lover of Charles II’s mistress, Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland. Churchill also had little to offer financially, as his estates were in deep debt.

There was also a rival for John’s hand in marriage in Catherine Sedley, a mistress of James II. It is likely that John hoped to have Sarah as a mistress to replace the recently departed Duchess of Cleveland, but surviving letters from Sarah to John show her unwillingness to be one. John contemplated marriage to Sedley, but when Sarah’s brother died in 1677, and she and her sister gained significantly more wealth, John chose Sarah, and the two were married in the winter of 1677-8, with the permission and support of the Duchess of York.
 

Father Background:

Sir Winston Churchill was an English soldier, historian and politician. He was the father of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, as well as an ancestor of his 20th-century namesake, Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.

Churchill was the son of John Churchill, a lawyer, and Sarah Winston, daughter of Sir Henry Winston. The Churchills were an old Dorsetshire family. He was educated at St John's College, Oxford, but left university without taking a degree. Churchill was a fervent Royalist through his life and fought in the Civil War as a Captain in the King's Horse and, after the Royalists were defeated, was forced to pay a recompense fee of £4,446. After the Restoration he sat as Tory Member of Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis from 1661 to 1679 and for Lyme Regis from 1685 to 1688. Churchill was also a Commissioner of the Irish Court of Claims and Explanations between 1662 and 1668 and a Junior Clerk Comptroller to the Board of Green Cloth from 1664 to 1679. He was knighted in 1664 and made a Fellow of the Royal Society the same year. He also published a history of the kings of England, entitled Divi Britannica; being a remark upon the Lives of all the Kings of this Isle, from the year of the World 2855 until the year of Grace 1660.

In 1643 Churchill married Elizabeth Drake, daughter of Sir John Drake and his wife Eleanor, niece of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. They had twelve children, of whom only five survived infancy. Three of their sons gained distinction. The aforementioned John became a famous military commander and was created Duke of Marlborough, Charles Churchill became a Lieutenant-General in the Army while George Churchill became an Admiral in the Royal Navy. One of their daughters was Arabella Churchill. Churchill died in March 1688, aged 67.

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