N 



MARLBOROUGH 



of the Kvnnet, near Savernake Forest, 75 niilcM 



\\ ..f l*>ndon iui.l II SSK. ( Swindon. lt broad 

 High Strwt contain* fame picturesque houses, and 

 at the Mwt end U St Mary'* Church with tin- town- 

 hall (17W)t at the west St IVl.-i '- ith the college. 

 Near the latter U a Brituh mouiul, on whM UH 

 in the 12th century ltii>liiip linger of Salisbury MM 

 a nwtle. Thb af UsrwanU became a royal n-idenee ; 

 and bra in l7 Henry III. held tin- |rliamcnt 

 which enacted the -Statutes of Marl.-1-r-.- f..r re- 

 Moriog good government after the IUmn' warn. An 

 ancient muniri|ial borough, MarifcerOOjgh, till I 

 rclurnc.1 two incmliers to parliament, and till 18H5 

 one. Pop. ( 1851 ) 3480; (MM ) H Marlhomugh 

 College wa* incorporated in 1S4.5, and obtained an 

 additional charter in IV.."; the nunilwr of pupils 

 U between 900 and 600, of whom about 70, wins of 

 clergymen, are mi Hit- foundation. There are tame 

 thirty Kbolanliipn worth from 15 to80annuall\ , 

 and fourteen leaving exhibiticmK for Oxford, Cam- 

 bridge, and Wixdwich. The nucleus of tin- college 

 building* wan formerly H famous coaching-house ; 

 and their i-<-ial gjory is the new clia|>el, an Karly 

 Decorated nave with'apsidal chancel. oonmMtd in 

 1880, at a cost of 30,IKIO. See local histories by 

 Waylen ( 1844 ) and Hulme ( 1881 ). 



. a provincial dUtrirt of New 

 Zealand, in the north cast corner of the South 

 Island, ISO mile* long by 30 broad ; area, 3,000,000 

 acre*, of which jm.tmo'are agricultural land and 

 1,300,000 suitable for itastoral occnpation. Amongst 

 the mineral* are gold, antimony, copper, and coal. 

 See NEW ZEA i, AM 



rlborough, JMN Curitnm.i,, Di KK OF, 



tin- .ihl,-! general and diplomatist of his time, was 

 born on the 24th June 1050, at Ashe, in Devon- 

 shire, an old nianor-liou-e, which can .still be seen 

 U-tween Axminster ainl Seaton. Uis father. Sir 

 \\ mtn Churchill, hail been an enthusiastic 

 adherent of t lie Stuart*, and on the accession of 

 Cromwell to power his estates had been consequently 

 At the Kmtoralion, lion ever, Winston 



recovered pnesnmliin of his lands, but his povei tv 

 prevented him from giving his children an educa- 

 bon befitting their pooition, HO that young ( 'hun-hill 

 ami hi*, brother in-orgo had to face the world with 

 little Ijitin anil h-m Creek, and a knowledge of 

 Engli-h hi-tory gathered fnun the plays of Shake- 

 mare. I hiring hix engagement as a page to the 

 Duke of York, .lolm wax fortunate enough to secure 

 a eommiiMon n cnign in tin- (iiiards, and at the 

 M of it.-i-n. in the year 1067, he wan went to Tan- 

 ners, then braieip-d by the MiMint. It in saiil tint 

 be wa* dent to Taiigiers on account of the kin^'x 

 iealoosy of bin favour with the. Dm-hcxi of Cleve- 

 land ; and the story is toM that on one >-.. I-I..M. 

 bring nearly rarpnsrd by the kin-. In- leupt out 

 of a window and was pre.M-iit.--l l.y tin- ducln-H with 

 CMOn. 4300 of which he invented in an annuity of 

 500 a year. The PAIMT* with regard to the annuity 

 transaction arc Mill in exUtence. At Tangicra 

 Chnrrhill hail little ot>|Mirtunily of <lilmi:ui*liing 

 Umself. Kn-all.-.! to Kn-Un.l l.y the 1 ink.- ..f York, 

 be wa* promoted to a cnptaim-y. and in coiniiiancl 

 of a grenadier eorapany he was dMtehed to join 

 Turenne. to assist Loiiu> XIV. in the re<liiriion of 

 the forUrxies on the Ihitrh doniier. Here hin brill- 

 iant murage and ability at once gained him a 

 colooelry, llbough hi* promotion would not hme 

 been so rapid luutlie not ralleil into re<|iii^ition the 

 influence of hi itrr. Arabella, inistrfiw "f the 

 Ui pr.j>eritv was further ad- 

 vanced by hii. marriav with Sarah .lennings, a 

 s remarkable for li.r talent* and iiii|M'ii..u* 

 a* for tier bmnty. In KW2 he 



created lUron Cliarchtll of Kyi-month, in Scotland. 

 OB the iccurion of the Duke of York to the throne 



as James II., the services of Colonel Churchill to 

 his master were not forgotten, as he was nii-.-d to 

 tin- Knglixli iwernge under the title of IJunui 

 Churchill of Sand ridge, in Hertfordshire. Promoted 

 to be general, ('bun-hill took on active part in 

 ijiii-lliiiK the relieUion of Monmouth ; but, on the 

 landing of the Prince of Orange, he stole a way to 

 the Mde of the invader, leaving n letter in which he 

 endeavoured to explain away his treachery by say- 

 ing that only the inviolable dictates of his con- 

 science and a necessary concern for his religion 

 could have induced him to desert his iniu-t. r. 

 James's daughter, the I'rinee Anne, accompanied 

 by Lady Churchill, also fled to join the relelf< in 

 the north. William, on his accession, showed 

 his gratitude for the awo-titnee given him by 

 Churchill by creating him Karl of Marlboroiigh. 

 Notwithstanding the conspicuous service rendered 

 by MnrllKiroiigli in reducing Ireland to subjection, 

 and ii- commander of the troops employed agnint 

 the French in the Netherlands, in 1UHO-91, William 

 III. could not rid himself of a certain not altogether 

 ungrounded suspicion of his new earl, till in 1092 he 

 fell into disfavour, ntid was dismissed from all his 

 offices. As the result of the discovery of a plot 

 with which a clever forger named Young associated 

 the name of Ifarlborongh, the earl was arrested 

 and lodged in the Tower. In ten days he was 

 rclc;L-wd, however, but for five years he was with- 

 out any public employment, till the death of Mary, 

 when lie was restored to the favour of the king, 

 and he retained it till the death of William in 17<>2. 

 At the accession of Queen Anne he was 

 entrusted with the command of the British army 

 in the Netherlands on the declaration of the 

 war of the Spanish succession, in which he 

 was to show Ins unrivalled strategical genius 

 during one of the greatest scries of military opera- 

 tions in which Kngland has ever been engaged. 

 Anne showered honours on the head of the for- 

 tunate earl and his wife, her closest friend. 

 Marllmrongh was made a knight of the Garter, 

 Commander-in-chief, and Master (ieueral of the 

 Ordnance, while his lady was appointed (iiiHini 

 of the Stole, Mistress of the Robes, and Keeper 

 of the Privy Purse. Marll>orough, in fact, became 

 regent in all but name. His wife governed the 

 ijiieen, and he himself directed (iixlolphin, the 

 Lord High Treasurer, whose son had married his 

 daughter. At the opening of the campaign. Marl- 

 borough, on his arrival at The Hague, was named 

 commander in-chief of the combined English and 

 Dutch forces, with a salary of 10,000. The 

 campaign was one long series of triumphs for 

 the allies. In 1702, for driving the French out of 

 Spani-h (iiielders, the reward was a dukedom and 

 t'.'Jimi per annum ' from the post-office.' The year 

 1703 was made memorable to the duke by the death 

 of his only surviving son, the Marquis of Hlandford, 

 who succumlicd to an attack of smallpox. Marl- 

 1*. lough hod little time to grieve over his luss, 

 as he was summoned at once to the campaign in 

 the l/ow Countries, in which he was so much dis- 

 guntcd with the Dutch that he returned to Knghuid, 

 'iioii-.lv thinking of throwing up his command. 

 Next year, however, we see him sunporting the 

 Kni|M-ror of Ccrmany, and joining Prince Eugene 

 of Savoy, in July of that year storming success- 

 fully the French' and Bavarian lines at Donan- 

 wotlh, and on the 13th August gaining a glorious 

 but bloody Metory over the enemy at Blenheim. 

 Of 86,000 men, the French and Bavarians lost 

 40,000, and the victors' killed and wounded 

 numbered fully 12,000. The result of this di-cisive 

 battle stani|>e<i MarlWough as the first general 

 in Enni|M>. Parliament licstowed upon him the. 

 estate of Woodstock, the qneen caused Blenheim 

 Park (q.v.) to be built fur him, and the emperor 



