John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722), British general and statesman, considered one of the “great captains” of British military history.

Churchill was born in Devon of minor gentry stock on May 26, 1650. His father, Sir Winston Churchill, although not wealthy, was able to place his eldest daughter, Arabella, and his son John, in the household of James, Duke of York (later James II), brother of Charles II. Their talents and good looks led to their rapid advancement. Arabella became the duke’s mistress, and at age 18 John gained a commission in the Foot Guards. He quickly acquired valuable experience of land and sea warfare: at Tangier, at the bloody naval battle of Solebay (1672) alongside James, and in the Low Countries and Alsace (1672-1675) under the great French marshal, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne. While these early exploits showed his outstanding ability as a soldier and marine he was also rising at court.

In 1677 he married Sarah Jennings, of a prominent Hertfordshire family. She became a lady-in-waiting to James’s younger daughter, Princess Anne, and so strengthened the close association of Churchill with the heir to the throne. He was rewarded with election to Parliament and a Scottish peerage, and on James’s accession was given a major role in the forces sent in 1685 to suppress the West Country rebellion led by the Duke of Monmouth (see Monmouth’s Rebellion). It was his skilful dispositions that helped defeat the rebels at the Battle of Sedgemoor.

His loyalty to the new king grew strained, however, as he and his wife supported Princess Anne’s resistance to her father’s attempts to convert her to Roman Catholicism. When William of Orange (later William III) landed in England in November 1688, Churchill, commander of the army sent by James to oppose him, deserted to the other side. This was one of the decisive events that led to James’s flight, the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689, and the succession of William III and Mary II. Churchill was created Earl of Marlborough and a privy counsellor by the new king, and sent to command allied forces in Flanders, a key theatre in the new war against Louis XIV and his expansionist France. Despite this, he quarrelled with William, was dismissed from his offices, and was briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was, however, reconciled to William before the king’s death in 1702.

The accession of Queen Anne led to Marlborough’s speedy promotion. He had already played a leading role in the formation of the Grand Alliance against France of Britain, the Netherlands, the Holy Roman emperor, and most of the German states. His wife was the queen’s favourite; his friend and political ally, Sidney Godolphin, became Lord of the Treasury; he was made Captain General (commander-in-chief) of the English army; and he was raised to a dukedom. The subsequent War of the Spanish Succession was fought on a worldwide basis, but the main theatre remained the Low Countries. Here, Marlborough led the English (British after 1707) armies, and shared the direction of the allied forces with Prince Eugene of Savoy (the imperial general), Dutch politicians, and German princes. Louis XIV’s France was the greatest military power in Europe, and Marlborough had to contend with every kind of difficulty—military, political, and diplomatic—to keep his forces in the field, withstand political opposition at home, and reconcile the allies’ divergent war aims.

In August 1704 he defeated a combined French and Bavarian army under Marshal Camille de Tallard at the Battle of Blenheim, in Bavaria, and showed that the French were not invincible. He broke through the French lines defending Brabant to inflict another defeat at Ramillies in 1706. His campaigns thereafter in the Netherlands, punctuated by battles at Oudenaarde (1708) and Malplaquet (1709), and sieges of important strongholds, ensured the security of the Netherlands and the conquest of what is now Belgium for the Holy Roman emperor. These victories were, however, increasingly costly, and when his wife lost her position at court, and the Tories, clamouring for peace with France, defeated Godolphin’s government, he was dismissed in 1711. He went into exile for two years.

Marlborough’s victories had helped to secure the Protestant succession in Britain, however, and when in 1714, on the death of Anne, the Hanoverian elector succeeded as George I, he was lavishly rewarded. He was restored to his honours and offices, and Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, was built for him and Sarah at public expense. He died on June 16, 1722.