MARLBOROUGH, JOHN CHURCHILL, I ST DUKE OF (1650—1722), English soldier, was born in the small manor house of Ash, in Musbury, Devonshire, the son of Winston Churchill of Glanville Wotton, Dorset. He went to St. Paul's school from 1663 to 1665. When fifteen he became page of honour to the duke of York, and about the same time his sister Arabella became maid of honour to the duchess, two events which con tributed greatly to the advancement of the Churchills. In 1667 he received through the influence of his master a commission in the Guards, and left England for service at Tangier but returned home in 1670. For a short interval Churchill remained in attend ance at the court, and it was during this period that his natural carefulness was shown by his investing in an annuity a present of £5,000 given him by the duchess of Cleveland.
In 1672, when England sent 6,000 troops to aid Louis XIV. in his attempt to subdue the Dutch, Churchill was made a cap tain in the company of which the duke of York was colonel, and soon attracted the attention of Turenne, especially at the siege of Nimeguen. When Maestricht was besieged in June 1673 he saved the life of the duke of Monmouth, and received the thanks of Louis XIV. In 1678 he married Sarah Jennings (b. June 5, 1660), the favourite attendant on the Princess Anne, younger daughter of the duke of York.
On the accession of James II. the Churchills received a great increase in fortune. Colonel Churchill had been created a Scotch peer as Lord Churchill of Eyemouth in Dec. 1682; and for his services on a special mission from the new monarch to Louis XIV. he was made in May 1685 Baron Churchill of Sandridge in Hertfordshire. When the duke of Monmouth attempted his ill-fated enterprise in the western counties, the second position in command of the king's army was bestowed on Lord Churchill, and in July 1685 he was raised to the rank of major-general. Through his energy at the battle of Sedgemoor (July 6) the king's side was victorious. After the death of Monmouth he with drew as far as possible from the administration of public busi ness. Whilst on his embassy to the French court he had declared
that if the king of England should change the religion of the state he should leave his service, and it was not long before the design of James became apparent. Churchill was one of the first to send overtures of obedience to the prince of Orange, to whom he had gone on a commission in 1678. Although he continued in a high position under James and drew the emoluments of his places, he promised William of Orange to use every exertion to bring over the troops to his side. James had been warned against him, but the warnings were in vain, and on the landing of the Dutch prince at Brixham Churchill was promoted to be lieuten ant-general (Nov. 7, 1688) and was sent against him with 5,000 men. When the royal army had advanced to the downs of Wilt shire and a battle seemed imminent, James was dismayed to find that at night his general had gone to the opposite camp.
Churchill was sworn as a privy councillor in Feb. 1688-89 and in April became earl of Marlborough. William felt, however, that he could not place implicit reliance in his friend's integrity ; and, with a sense of the manner in which Marlborough's talents might be employed without detriment to the stability of his throne, he sent him in June 1689 with the army into the Nether lands, and in the autumn of 1690 into Ireland, where owing to his generalship Cork and Kinsale fell into his hands after short sieges. For some time there was no open avowal of any distrust in Marl borough's loyalty, but in May 1692 he was thrown into the Tower on an accusation of treason. Though the evidence against him was slight, i and he was released, there is no doubt that Marlbor ough was n close relations with the exiled king at St. Germain, and that he even went so far as to disclose, in t 1_94, his late master the intention of the English to attack Brest. During the Fenwick plot of 1696 he was charged again with treason, but William ignored the accusation.