John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough

His Grace
The Duke of Marlborough
His Grace; The Duke of Marlborough
Born	18 September 1897
Died	11 March 1972 (aged 74)
Spouse(s)	Alexandra Mary Cadogan; (Frances) Laura Canfield née 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 (18 September 1897 – 11 March 1972), styled Marquess of Blandford until 1934, was a British peer.

Marlborough 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.

Family

Marlborough 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:

Lady Sarah Consuelo Spencer-Churchill (London, 17 December 1921 – Middlesex, Connecticut, 13 October 2000); baptised 17 January 1922 at St Margaret's Westminster;^[1] married 14 May 1943 in Westminster Edwin Fariman Russell (born 15 July 1914) and had four children: Serena Mary Churchill Russell (born 1944), Consuelo Sarah Russell (born 1946), Alexandra Brenda Russell (born 1949), and Jacqueline Russell (born 1958); divorced 7 October 1966 in Reno, United States; married secondly 11 November 1966 Guy Burgos Ossa with no issue; divorced in 1967 in Mexico; married thirdly 1967 in Philadelphia Theo Roubanis with no issue.
Lady Caroline Spencer-Churchill (London, 12 November 1923 – 1992) married 5 December 1946 in Woodstock Major Charles Huguenot Waterhouse (born 11 June 1918) and had three children: Michael Thomas Waterhouse (born 25 May 1949), Elizabeth Ann Waterhouse (born 1951), and David Charles Waterhouse (born 1956).
John George Vanderbilt Henry Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough (13 April 1926 – 16 October 2014^[2])
Lady Rosemary Mildred Spencer-Churchill (born London, 24 July 1929), lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth II; married 26 June 1953 at Oxford Charles Robert Muir (died 1972) and had three children: Alexander Pepys Muir (born 1954), Simon Huntly Muir (born 1959), and Mary Arabella Muir (born 1962). Lady Rosemary was one of Queen Elizabeth II’s Maids of Honour at the 1953 Coronation.^[3] Her son Alexander is a god-son of Princess Margaret.^[4]
Lord Charles George William Colin Spencer-Churchill (born London, 13 July 1940) married firstly 23 July 1965 Gillian Spreckels Fuller (born 1946) (a great-granddaughter of California industrialist and financier John D. Spreckels) with no issue; marriage dissolved in 1968; married secondly 1970 Elizabeth Jane Wyndham (born 1948) (a great-niece of the interior decorator Nancy Lancaster) and has three children: Rupert John Harold Mark Spencer-Churchill (born 26 November 1971), Dominic Albert Charles Spencer-Churchill (born 1979), and Alexander David Spencer-Churchill (born 9 June 1983).

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). Canfield was the second daughter of The Hon. Guy Lawrence Charteris (23 May 1886 - 1967), second son of Hugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss, and his wife Frances Lucy Tennant (1887 - 5 November 1925). Laura's older sister, Ann Geraldine Mary Charteris (19 June 1913 - 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.