George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough

George Spencer, Marquess of Blandford, in a contemporary portrait

George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough (March 6, 1766 - March 5, 1840 ) was a British nobleman and politician.

Live and act

George Spencer-Churchill was born in 1766 under the name George Spencer, the eldest son of George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough . As an apparent marriage of his father, he carried the courtesy title of Marquess of Blandford until his death .

From 1776 to 1783 he attended the boarding school Eton College and from 1784 to 1786 the Christ Church College of the University of Oxford , which he left as a Master of Arts.

From 1790 to 1796 he sat for the Whigs as Knight of the Shire for Oxfordshire and from 1802 to 1804 as a member of the Tories for the Pocket borough Tregony in Cornwall in the British House of Commons . In 1798 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Berkshire . From 1804 to 1806 he also served as Lord of the Treasury .

In the British Army he was promoted to Major in the 1st Reading Volunteers in December 1803 and to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1808 .

By Writ of Acceleration he was appointed to the House of Lords on March 12, 1806 and thereby inherited the subordinate title of his father as 9th Baron Spencer prematurely . When his father died on January 29, 1817, he inherited his remaining title as 5th Duke of Marlborough . Based on his great-great-grandfather John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough , he added his family name to "Spencer-Churchill" on May 26, 1817 with a royal license.

Due to his clumsy financial policy as a private citizen, the Duke had to sell numerous properties (land, country houses) as well as his extensive collection of antiques in order to be able to pay off his enormous debts. This went so far that large parts of the forests around Blenheim Castle had to be cut down in order to be sold as firewood and thus bring in financial resources. At the time of his death, the duke was living on an annual allowance that the royal family had exposed to the first duke.

Marriage and offspring

On September 15, 1791, he married Lady Susan Stewart (1767-1841), daughter of John Stewart, 7th Earl of Galloway . The marriage produced four sons and one daughter:

• George Spencer-Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough (1793-1857);
• Lord Charles Spencer-Churchill (1794-1840);
• Reverend Lord George Henry Spencer-Churchill (1796-1828);
• Lord Henry John Spencer-Churchill (1797-1840);
• Lady Caroline Spencer-Churchill († 1824), ⚭ 1822 David Pennant († 1835).

Honors

The plant genus Blandfordia Sm. From the lily family (Liliaceae) is named after George Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford .

literature

• Mary Soames : The Profligate Duke. George Spencer-Churchill, fifth Duke of Marlborough and his Duchess. Collins, London 1987, ISBN 0-00-216376-4 .
• RG Thorne: Spencer, George, Mq. of Blandford (1766-1840), of Blenheim, Oxon. In: RG Thorne (Ed.): The History of Parliament. The House of Commons 1790-1820. Secker & Warburg, London 1986, ISBN 0-4365-2101-6 ( online ).

Web links

• George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough on thepeerage.com
• Marlborough, Duke of (E, 1702) at Cracroft's Peerage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 15084, HMSO, London, November 27, 1798, p. 1137 ( PDF , English).
2. ↑ London Gazette . No. 15662, HMSO, London, December 31, 1803, p. 4 ( PDF , English).
3. ↑ London Gazette . No. 16196, HMSO, London, October 29, 1808, p. 1473 ( PDF , English).
4. ↑ London Gazette . No. 15899, HMSO, London, March 15, 1806, p. 342 ( PDF , English).
5. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 ( doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 ).

predecessor	Office	successor
George Spencer	Baron Spencer (by writ of acceleration) 1806-1840	George Spencer-Churchill
George Spencer	Duke of Marlborough 1817-1840	George Spencer-Churchill