Charles Churchill

General Charles Churchill (2 February 1656 – 29 December 1714) was a British army officer and politician who served in the War of the Spanish Succession and sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1701 to 1710. He was a younger brother of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and both his military and political careers were closely connected with his brother's. Along with Marlborough's Irish Chief of Staff William Cadogan, he was one of Churchill's closest advisors. He was a Tory, in contrast to his Whig brother who tolerated and possibly used Churchill's Tory connections.

Life

Churchill was the son of Winston Churchill and his wife Elizabeth Drake, daughter of Sir John Drake of Ashe, Devon, and his wife Helena Butler (or Boteler). He became a page and, from 1672 to 1708, a gentlemen in the household of Prince George of Denmark. He became Lieutenant of the Tower of London in 1702.

Charles Churchill joined the English Army as an ensign in the 3rd Regiment of Foot in 1674 and later received the colonelcy of that unit. He fought in numerous wars and battles, including Sedgemoor during Monmouth's Rebellion. He served under his brother when he captured Cork from its Jacobite Irish Army garrison in 1690. He then served on the continent at the Steenkerque and Landen. Churchill was promoted to brigadier-general in 1690 and to major-general in 1694.

Churchill was returned as Member of Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in a contest at the first general election of 1701 and was blacklisted for opposing preparations for war with France. He was returned unopposed in the second general election of 1701 and supported Harley for the Speaker in January 1702, He supported the motion on 26 February 1702 to vindicate the Commons' proceedings in impeaching William's Whig ministers.