John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, was an English soldier and statesman. He served first as a page at the court of the House of Stuart under James, Duke of York. As de facto leader of Allied forces in the Low Countries, his victories at Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet ensured his place in history as one of Europe’s great generals.
About John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough in brief
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, was an English soldier and statesman. He served first as a page at the court of the House of Stuart under James, Duke of York. Churchill’s role in defeating the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 helped secure James on the throne, but he was a key player in the military conspiracy that led to James being deposed during the Glorious Revolution. As de facto leader of Allied forces in the Low Countries, his victories at Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet ensured his place in history as one of Europe’s great generals. His wife’s stormy relationship with the Queen, and her subsequent dismissal from court, was central to his own fall. He was forced from office and went into self-imposed exile. He returned to favour with the accession of George I to the British throne in 1714, but a stroke in 1716 ended his active career. Churchill was the second but oldest surviving son of Sir Winston Churchill and Elizabeth Drake, whose family came from Ash, in Devon. The family fortune was made in 1665 when Arabella Churchill became maid of honour to Anne Hyde and began an affair with her husband, James, then Duke ofYork. Their relationship led to appointments for her brothers; John was appointed page to James and in September 1667 made an ensign in the Foot Guards. After the 1660 Restoration of Charles II, Winston became Member of parliament for Weymouth and from 1662 served as Commissioner for Irish Land Claims in Dublin.
On returning to London in 1663, he was knighted and received a position at Whitehall, with John attending St Paul’s School. Winston served with the Royalist Army in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms; he was heavily fined for doing so, forcing his family to live at Ash House with his mother-in-law. In 1670 he agreed to support the Dutch Republic and a British brigade of 6,000 troops for the French army for the Treaty of Dover, a secret provision not revealed until 1775. As a result of the Franco-Dutch War, Churchill was present at the Battle of Solebay on May 28, possibly aboard the Prince’ flagship, which was crippled in action. Shortly thereafter he was commissioned Captain in the Admiralty Regiment, part of the Duke’s Admiralty. He allegedly had affair with Barbara Villiers and may have fathered her daughter, Barbara Fitzroy, although he never formally acknowledged her. He is recorded as being with Sir Thomas Allin in the Mediterranean from March to November 1670, he returned to London, where in February 1671 he engaged in a duel with Sir John Fenwick. Claims Churchill served in the Tangier Garrison cannot be confirmed but he is recorded to have been in charge of the British brigade during the 1670 War of the Spanish Succession. In 1701 he was appointed as his deputy in Southern Netherlands before the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701.
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