Winston Churchill (1620-1688)

Sir Winston Churchill FRS (18 April 1620 – 26 March 1688), known as the "Cavalier Colonel", was an English soldier, historian, and politician. He was the father of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, as well as an ancestor of his 20th century namesake, Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.

Churchill was the son of John Churchill (b. c. 1596), a lawyer, and wife (m. 1620), Sarah Winston (b. c. 1598), daughter of Sir Henry Winston and wife. The Churchills were an old Dorset family. He was educated at St John's College, Oxford, but left university without taking a degree. Churchill was a fervent Royalist through his life and fought and was wounded Civil War as a Captain in the King's Horse and, after the Royalists were defeated, was forced to pay a recompense fee of £4,446. After the Restoration he sat as Tory Member of Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis from 1661 to 1679 and for Lyme Regis from 1685 to 1688. Churchill was also a Commissioner of the Irish Court of Claims and Explanations between 1662 and 1668 and a Junior Clerk Comptroller to the Board of Green Cloth from 1664 to 1679. He was knighted in 1664 and made a Fellow of the Royal Society the same year. He also published a history of the kings of England, entitled "Divi Britannica; being a remark upon the Lives of all the Kings of this Isle, from the year of the World 2855 until the year of Grace 1660".

In 1643 Churchill married Elizabeth Drake, daughter of Sir John Drake (d. 25 August 1636) and wife Eleanor Boteler, daughter of the 1st Baron Boteler of Brantfield and maternal niece of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. They had twelve children, of whom only five survived infancy. Three of their sons gained distinction. The aforementioned John became a famous military commander and was created Duke of Marlborough, Charles Churchill (2 February 1656 – 1714) became a Lieutenant-General in the Army and married Mary Gould (later married to the 2nd Earl of Abingdon), while George Churchill became an Admiral in the Royal Navy. One of their daughters was Arabella Churchill. Churchill died in March 1688, aged 67.

References

*Stephen, Sir Leslie; Lee, Sir Sidney (editors). "The Dictionary of National Biography, From the Earliest Times to 1900: Volume IV Chamber-Craigie". Oxford University Press.
* [http://www.angeltowns.com/town/peerage/ Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page]
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/ www.thepeerage.com]