Family and Education

b. 28 Feb. 1759, 3rd s. of Col. Charles Churchill^† of Chalfont, Bucks. by Lady Mary Walpole, illegit. da. of Robert Walpole^†, 1st Earl of Orford (by Maria Skerett, afterwards his 2nd w.), who assumed by royal lic. the rank of an earl’s da. m. at Windsor, 20 Oct. 1783, Harriot Ann Modigham or Modigliani,1 1s. 2da.

Offices Held

Ensign 1 Ft. Gds. 1773, lt. 1778, capt. 1779; capt. 1 Ft. Gds. 1782, 1 Horse Gren. Gds. 1787, brevet maj. 1794, lt.-col. 1798, col. 1808; maj.-gen. RA 1811.

Capt. Suff. yeoman cav. 1794.

Biography

Churchill, like his father and grandfather, combined a military career with parliamentary service, but sat in only one Parliament. His seat was in the pocket of his uncle Horace Walpole^†, 4th Earl of Orford, who left him £500 in his will (1797).2 He gave silent support to government, voting for Pitt’s assessed taxes, 4 Jan. 1798. In 1802, when he was a competitor for the lieutenant-governorship of Dover Castle, it was thought that he might have succeeded there as a ministerial candidate; but Pitt (as lord warden) while acknowledging Churchill’s pretensions, pressed the candidature of William Huskisson*.3 Churchill resumed his military career and died 22 Sept. 1817.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: R. G. Thorne

Notes

• 1. She died at Genoa in 1840.
• 2. Horace Walpole Corresp. (Yale ed.), xi, 264; xxx. 375; Add. 36505, f. 34.
• 3. The Times, 8 June; E. Suff. RO, Tomline mss, Rose to bp. of Lincoln, 11 July 1802.