Charles Churchill (British Army officer, born 1679)

Lieutenant General Charles Churchill (1679 – 14 May 1745) was a British Army General and a Member of Parliament.

Lieutenant General Charles Churchill
Born	1679
Died	14 May 1745 (aged 65 or 66)
Allegiance	Kingdom of Great Britain
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Battles/wars	War of the Spanish Succession

Career

Born the natural (illegitimate) son of Elizabeth Dodd and General Charles Churchill (1656–1714) and so the nephew of the 1st Duke of Marlborough, Churchill spent his early career in the British Army during the War of the Spanish Succession and was then Member of Parliament for Castle Rising from 1715 to 1745.[1]

He was despatched to Vienna in 1721 on a mission to secure the release of a "Mr Knight" who was being held in the Citadel of Antwerp.[2] In 1727 he was promoted to Brigadier[3] and appointed a Groom of the Bedchamber[4] and in 1728 King George II and Queen Caroline inspected his Regiment of Dragoons.[5]

He was also Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea from 1720 until 1722.[6] and Governor of Plymouth.[7]

Family

He was married to Catherine, younger daughter of Sir Henry Hobart, 4th Baronet; she died on 2 June 1725.[8] Churchill had a relationship with Anne Oldfield, an English actress, by whom he had an illegitimate son, Charles Churchill (of Chalfont). He also had an illegitimate daughter, Harriet, whose mother is uncertain. Harriet married Sir Everard Fawkener and, later, Thomas Pownall.[9]

References

1. "Leigh Rayment". Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
2. "No. 5929". The London Gazette. 11 February 1721. p. 1.
3. "No. 6572". The London Gazette. 11 April 1727. p. 3.
4. "No. 6634". The London Gazette. 19 December 1727. p. 2.
5. "No. 6671". The London Gazette. 4 May 1728. p. 1.
6. H. Godfrey, ed. (1927), Survey of London, 11, pp. 37–60
7. "Sneakers Roots". Archived from the original on 7 February 2010. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
8. Burke's Peerage 1949, p. 291.
9. Perry, Norma. ""Sir Everard Fawkener, Friend and Correspondent of Voltaire (Banbury, 1975), 109–12; Edward J. Davies, "Further Notes on Governor Thomas¹ Pownall". The American Genealogist. 77 (2002): 190–94.