John Churchill
John Churchill was a Tory politician and member of the Parliament in England.
Contents
History
Churchill was elected to the House of Commons in 1679 amid the Exclusion Crisis. Churchill, a Tory, supported James' succession.
He was raised to lord of Eyemouth in 1682, and then to baron of Sandridge in 1685. The latter afforded him a seat in the House of Lords.
He fought against the Monmouth Rebellion and thereafter received a promotion to major general.
Churchill was among the officers that defected to William in the Glorious Revolution. William and Mary created him as earl of Marlborough. He then served as an English general for the Grand Alliance in the Nine Years War and Williamite War.
Churchill himself was a Jacobite sympathizer, and re-established communication with James II in exile. And in court politics, his wife Sarah sided with Anne over Mary. In 1692, he was dismissed from all military and governmental roles. Only in 1698 was he reappointed to government and returned his military rank.
Following Philip's succession to the Spanish crown, an ailing William appointed Churchill to represent him in a diplomatic conference in the Hague. In the Treaty of the Hague, the Grand Alliance was recreated and declared for an alternate claim to the Spanish crown, so as to keep it independent from France.
William died shortly thereafter, with Anne succeeding him. Churchill was raised to the captain-general of English forces. He was also soon raised to duke of Marlborough. He enjoyed great influence on the continent, paralleled only by Eugene of Savoy and Heinsius. However, his persistent remoteness ensured a gradual downfall.
Anne had initially appointed a mixed government of both Tories and Whigs. Over time, her government drifted to favor a Whig Junto (i.e., Somers, Montagu, Wharton, and Russell). Churchill and Godolphin, both political moderates, were left the only Tories still in government. The oppositional Country Whigs merged with the wider Tory Party and, in 1710, in the context of the Sacheverell riots, won a majority in the Parliament.
Anne appointed a Tory government led by Harley and St John, who then enacted a strategy to force a peace treaty. Churchill was relieved of his command, and English forces were directed to cease combat. Bilateral diplomacy with Louis XIV was opened.
Before the Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713, Churchill had already gone into exile. He only returned to England nearly simultaneous to Anne's death.
Churchill's health deteriorated rapidly after returning to England, and he eventually died in 1722.