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The Original Duke of Marlborough written for Children
Churchill had a full life prior to his nobility. Born in 1650 to a family of poverty, Churchill's family struggled for the first years of his life, until father Winston became a member of Parliament. The family was not wealthy after that, but was certainly better off. Due to his father's political status, young adult John Churchill was appointed as page to James, Duke of York. It was this influence that led young Churchill to joining the military. In short order he gained the notice of several of the nobility, which took him from serving aboard the Duke of York's flagship to his own captaincy in the Admiralty Regiment. His courage and heroism earned him a positive reputation in the King's court. Upon his return from military service Colonel Churchill met, courted and married Sarah Jennings, the maid of honour to the Duchess of York. In the years following the marriage Churchill became somewhat of a diplomat, even authoring an extremely well received essay on international statecraft. In 1678 Churchill's patron James, the Duke of York was exiled from England for being a practicing Catholic. He insisted Churchill attend him during his exile, which lasted three years. Once the Popish Plot (conspiracy started by Titus Oates designed to exclude Catholics from the line of throne accession) was defeated, the Duke and Churchill returned to England. Churchill was made Lord Churchill of Eyemouth (in Scotland) as a compensation for his service and faithfulness. The Monmouth Rebellion saw Churchill once again active in combat, commanding the regular foot in now King James II's army. Churchill was promote to Major General in July of 1685, but was growing uneasy with James II's commitment to Catholicism. He was concerned that the king might force the nation to change religions, and stated that if this were to happen Churchill would immediately resign his position. When William, Prince of Orange invaded England to dethrone the Catholic king and replace him as a Protestant leader, Churchill waited until success was certain and resigned from service to his King. When William III was coroneted on 9 April 1689 Churchill was created Earl of Marlborough as reward for his service. As Marlborough, Churchill served in greater military capacity, get continued to use his inherent diplomatic skills to his greatest advantage. Through the next few decades Marlborough continued on in his duties. Various military and diplomatic foes worked to sully his reputation and damage his credibility. Despite his detractors Marlborough was head of the army, although his and Sarah's weakening relationship with now Queen Anne had begun deteriorating to the point of her interference with military appointments. Despite being renown for his military and tactical genius, eventually Marlborough was dismissed from his duties and replaced with others more willing to agree with the Queen. Further slander against Churchill continued and he eventually left England and was celebrated as a prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Eventually he was welcomed back to England, where he remained, an elder statesman, until his death from stroke in 1722. This is an original news article © The Kids WindowOne in a series of articles of articles about British history written for children, see our range of historical dressing up costumes. | |||||||
