John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough

John Winston Spencer - Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough ( born June 2, 1822 Garboldisham Hall, Norfolk; † July 4, 1883 in Berkeley Square, London ) was a British statesman and aristocrat.

Life and work

Spencer-Churchill attended Eton College (1835-1838) and the Oriel College, Oxford University.

From 1857 to his death was Spencer - Churchill, like. Before him his father George Spencer - Churchill, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire and since 1859 President of the Royal Agricultural Society ( Royal Agricultural Society) In April 1844, he was due to the influence of his father as MP for the constituency of Woodstock to the British House of Commons, where he sat until May 1845, then again from 1847 to 1857. In the third reign of Edward Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, ( 1866) was Spencer-Churchill First Lord Steward of the Household before - only once again Derby ( 1867-1868 ), then under Benjamin Disraeli (1868 ) - served as Lord President of the Council. He also belonged since 1866 to the Privy Council. In Parliament he joined predominantly as a devotee of Lord Derby, but retained a " general freedom of action " in foreign and church affairs before. 1856 Spencer - Churchill, the author of a bill that would strengthen the Church of England in urban areas due to the division of larger communities Compromise ( 19 & 20 Voct. C.104 ). In the early 1870s Spencer-Churchill was one of the "most trusted leaders" of the Conservative Party and was reputed to sympathize with the progressive tendencies of his time over extended ranges. Disraeli valued him as a man of culture, intellectual apprehension and with moral energy and thought that it was the most conservative in the upper house to Cairns.

From 1876 to 1880 was Spencer - Churchill, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, ie De facto governor of Ireland. He took this office, which he had in 1874 knocked out, especially on to his third son, who was angered by his involvement in the Aylesford affair the Prince of Wales, and he took with him to Ireland, from the political line of fire to be able to hold out. His Ireland policy was identified as a non-dogmatic but decided unionist. During his tenure as Lord Lieutenant, he supported the Irish Intermediate Education Act of Sir Michael Hicks Beach, and other means to support the Catholic education of the population. During the famine of 1879 Spencer-Churchill gathered together with his wife £ 30,000 to support the impoverished rural population with potatoes, food and clothing. In March 1880 Spencer - Churchill was the addressee of Disraeli's famous " dissolution letter " in which the prime minister warned of the dangers of the Home Rule for Ireland. After Disraeli's death in 1881 the Duke the public reminded several times this warning and turned strictly in subsequent years against Gladstone's Irish policy, in which he saw a yielding to violence.

Spencer-Churchill was considered serious, honorable and industrious man, who had little in common with his notorious eldest son. On his third son, Lord Randolph he practiced mainly in the early phase of the political career of a significant impact. The success, Spencer-Churchill was able to post in his efforts to a resurgence of his family for himself, was after a judgment of the historian Roland Quinault, with considerable costs bought: With reference to Disraeli's ruling that Spencer-Churchill "not rich for a Duke " was, presented Quinault finds that the Duke family heirlooms, bonds and even the Marlborough - jewels ( 1875), the Sunderland library ( 1883-1883 ) and land ownership in Buckinghamshire (1875 ) - the latter to Ferdinand de Rothschild - was forced to sell to to finance the "political projects " his family.

Spencer-Churchill entered the last time on June 28, 1883 in the House on when he gave a speech in which he challenged the " Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Bill". He died shortly afterwards in angina pectoris in his London home, 29 Berkeley Square. He was buried in the private chapel of his family in Blenheim.

Family

John Winston Spencer-Churchill was the eldest son of George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough and his wife Lady Jane Stewart. Before he inherited from his father rank and title of the Duke of Marlborough, he led the courtesy title Marquess of Blandford. He had two brothers and a sister.

On July 12, 1843 married Spencer-Churchill Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane, the only daughter of Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. The marriage produced eleven children of the father of the late British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, who was named after his grandfather emerged, including Lord Randolph Churchill.

• George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough ( 1844-1892 )
• Lord Frederick John Winston Spencer-Churchill (1846-1850)
• Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill (1847-1927)
• Lady Rosamond Jane Frances Spencer - Churchill ( † 1920)
• Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (1849-1895), British statesman ( Chancellor )
• Lady Fanny Octavia Louise Spencer-Churchill (1853-1904), wife of Edward Marjoribanks, 2nd Baron Tweedmouth
• Lady Anne Emily Spencer-Churchill (1854-1923)
• Lord Ashley Charles Spencer-Churchill (1856-1858)
• Lord Augustus Robert Spencer-Churchill (1858-1859)
• Lady Georgiana Elizabeth Spencer-Churchill (1860-1906)
• Lady Sarah Isabella Augusta Spencer - Churchill ( † 1929)