Name John 10th | ||
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Born 18 September 1897 ( 1897-09-18 ) Died 11 March 1972(1972-03-11) (aged 74) Spouse(s) Alexandra Mary Cadogan
(Frances) Laura Canfield nee Charteris Issue Sarah Consuelo Spencer-Churchill
Caroline Spencer-Churchill
Rosemary Mildred Spencer-Churchill
John George Vanderbilt Henry Spencer-Churchill
Charles George William Colin Spencer-Churchill Parents Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough
Consuelo Vanderbilt | ||
John Albert William Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough, DL (18 September 1897 – 11 March 1972), styled Marquess of Blandford until 1934, was a British military officer and peer.
He was born in London as the first of two sons born to Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough and his first wife, the former Consuelo Vanderbilt, an American railroad heiress. Prior to inheriting the dukedom in 1934, he was a lieutenant-colonel in the Life Guards. He was Mayor of Woodstock from 1937 to 1942.
Marriages and issue
He married his first wife, the Hon. Alexandra Mary Cadogan (22 February 1900 – 23 May 1961), on 17 February 1920 in London. She was a daughter of Henry Cadogan, Viscount Chelsea, the son and heir of George Henry Cadogan, 5th Earl Cadogan. They had two sons and three daughters:
Six weeks before his death, on 26 January 1972, the Duke married his second wife, (Frances) Laura Canfield née Charteris (London, 10 August 1915 – 1990), the widow of the American publishing heir Michael Temple Canfield (whose first wife had been Caroline Lee Bouvier, the sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis). Laura Canfield was the second daughter of the Hon. Guy Lawrence Charteris (23 May 1886 – 21 September 1967), second son of Hugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss, and his wife Frances Lucy Tennant (November 1887 – 5 November 1925). Laura's older sister, Ann Geraldine Mary Charteris (19 June 1913 – 12 July 1981), married the novelist Ian Fleming. Laura herself was previously married to and divorced from Walter Long, 2nd Viscount Long and William Ward, 3rd Earl of Dudley.
The Duke was succeeded by his son John Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford. He and his first wife are buried in the churchyard of St Martin's Church, Bladon.