Marlborough, John Churchill, Duke of

Marlborough, John Churchill, Duke of (1650-1722), soldier, b. Ash, Devon, England.

At the age of twelve, John Churchill became a page to the Duke of York (later King James II) and four years later he joined the Army as an ensign.

He fought in Tangier and the Netherlands and was promoted to the rank of colonel.

In 1678 he married Sarah Jennings. She was a lady-in-waiting and the closest friend of Princess Anne (later Queen Anne).

By the age of thirty-two, Churchill was a general.

In 1685, he put down a rebellion led by the Duke of Monmouth and, as a reward, James II made him a baron.

Then, in 1688, William of Orange and Mary became rulers in place of James. Churchill had become a supporter of William and as a result he was made Earl of Marlborough.

In 1692, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London suspected of plotting against William, but he was soon released.

Queen Anne succeeded William in 1702 and went to war against France in the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-13), making Marlborough her commander-in-chief. He led the British armies in Europe and their allies, known as the Grand Alliance, and won a series of brilliant victories in major battles at Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), Oudenarde (1708) and Malplaquet (1709).

Marlborough was loved by his troops and in England he was looked upon as one of the greatest generals in history.

He was made the 1st Duke of Marlborough and awarded an estate at Woodstock in Oxfordshire with a palace named Blenheim specially built for him.

Then, in 1711, he was accused of stealing money from army funds and dismissed. He left England to live abroad but in 1714 King George I called him back and made him commander-in-chief once more. Two years later he was seriously ill and he lived the rest of his life quietly at Blenheim Palace.

Sir Winston Churchill was a descendant of Marlborough and some words of his show what a great soldier Marlborough was. He wrote: 'For ten years he led the armies of the Grand Alliance, and during all that period he never fought a battle he did not win, or besieged a town he did not take. Nothing like this exists in the history of war.'

See Winston S. Churchill Marlborough: His Life and Times, Book One