Lord Randolph Churchill facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Right Honourable Lord Randolph Churchill
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 3 August 1886 – 22 December 1886
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	William Vernon Harcourt
Succeeded by	George Goschen
Leader of the House of Commons
In office 3 August 1886 – 14 January 1887
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	William Ewart Gladstone
Succeeded by	William Henry Smith
Secretary of State for India
In office 24 June 1885 – 28 January 1886
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	The Earl of Kimberley
Succeeded by	The Earl of Kimberley
Personal details
Born	Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill 13 February 1849 Belgravia, London, England
Died	24 January 1895(1895-01-24) (aged 45) Westminster, London, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Jennie Jerome ​ (m. 1874)​
Children	Sir Winston Spencer-Churchill John Spencer-Churchill
Parents	John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough Lady Frances Anne Vane
Education	Cheam School Eton College
Alma mater	Merton College, Oxford
Profession	Politician

Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (13 February 1849 – 24 January 1895) was Winston Churchill's father. He was a son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough.

Early life

Churchill in the 1860s

Born at 3 Wilton Terrace, Belgravia, London, Randolph Spencer was the third son of John Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford, and his wife the Marchioness of Blandford (née Lady Frances Vane); upon John's father's death in 1857, they became the (7th) Duke of Marlborough, and the Duchess of Marlborough, respectively. As the younger son of a Marquess, Randolph had a courtesy title, and was Lord Randolph Churchill; but as a commoner was able to sit in the House of Commons.

Churchill attended Tabor's Preparatory School, Cheam, then from 1863 Eton College, where he remained until 1865. He did not stand out either at academic work or sport while at Eton; his contemporaries described him as a vivacious and rather unruly boy. Among the lifelong friendships he made at school were with Arthur Balfour and Archibald Primrose (later Lord Rosebery).

In October 1867, Churchill matriculated at Merton College, Oxford. Randolph was frequently in trouble with the university authorities for his rowdy behaviour. He had a liking for hunting, but was also a well-read historian. He gained a second-class degree in jurisprudence and modern history in 1870.

Career

At the general election of 1874 Churchill was elected to Parliament as Conservative member for Woodstock, near the family seat of Blenheim Palace. His maiden speech, delivered in his first session, prompted compliments from William Harcourt and Benjamin Disraeli, who wrote to the Queen of Churchill's "energy and natural flow".

In the new parliament of 1880 he speedily began to play a more notable role. By 1885 he had formulated the policy of progressive Conservatism which was known as "Tory Democracy" and coined the term One-nation conservatism. He declared that the Conservatives ought to adopt, rather than oppose, popular reforms, and to challenge the claims of the Liberals to pose as champions of the masses. His views were largely accepted by the official Conservative leaders in the treatment of the Gladstonian Representation of the People Act 1884.

Secretary of State for India

Churchill was appointed Secretary of State for India, assuming office on 24 June 1885.

Despite entering office with a reputation for progressive views on India, Churchill 's tenure was, in the words of the historian and biographer R.F. Foster, 'traditionally reactionary', and many of his policies focused on exploiting, not developing India. He enthusiastically supported a trade policy which favoured British imports over Indian goods; increased spending on the Indian Army at the expense of public works such as railways, roads and irrigation (all sharply reduced under his secretaryship); and re-directed money which had been set aside for future famine relief to help balance his budget. His attitude towards the native Indians was similarly illiberal. He refused to allow reforms which would have increased Indian representation within the civil service and army.

However, Churchill's most well-known act during his time at the India Office was his role in the invasion and annexation of Burma in the Third Anglo-Burmese War. Siding with British commercial (especially cotton) and military interests, and hoping to boost Conservative fortunes in the upcoming general election, Churchill directed the Viceroy, Lord Dufferin, to invade Upper Burma in November 1885. With little discussion, Churchill then decided to annex the Burmese kingdom, adding it as a new province of the Indian Raj as a "New Year present" for Queen Victoria on New Year's Day 1886. Not only is the war itself widely regarded as a piece of blatant imperialism, but the continuing guerrilla war lasted into the later 1880s and cost the Indian taxpayer ten times Churchill's original financial estimates.

End of political career

Churchill was new to the leadership ranks, and became a relatively isolated figure in the cabinet. He did not think in terms of consulting his supporters and building a base in Commons; instead, he decided to use his strong public support to impose his positions on the Prime Minister in both domestic and foreign affairs. He decided to demonstrate to the public that the Conservatives could be as economical in budgetary matters as Gladstone had been. Therefore, he proposed a budget with significant expenditure reductions that surprised and annoyed the Conservative MPs. They were willing to compromise, but he insisted on additional cuts in the Army and Navy that alarmed the service ministers. Churchill decided to threaten resignation but it proved to be one of the great blunders in British political history. In his resignation letter he stated that it was because he was unable as Chancellor to support the armed services. He expected his resignation to be followed by the unconditional surrender of the cabinet, and his restoration to office on his own terms. Instead, Salisbury accepted the resignation, and Churchill was out in the cold. Goschen replaced him as Chancellor. For the next few years there was some speculation about a return to front-line politics, but Churchill's own career was over.

Although Lord Randolph continued to sit in Parliament, his health was in serious decline throughout the 1890s. It was soon apparent that Churchill's powers had been undermined by the illness which was to take his life at the age of 45. As the session of 1893 wore on, his speeches lost their old effectiveness. His last speech in the House was delivered in the debate on the East African Scheme in June 1894, and was a painful failure.

Death

An attempted round-the-world journey failed to cure Lord Randolph of his debilitating illness. He started in the autumn of 1894, accompanied by his wife, but his health soon became so feeble that he was brought back hurriedly from Cairo. He reached England shortly before Christmas, and died in Westminster the next month. The gross value of his personal estate was entered in the Probate Registry at £75,971 (equivalent to £6,300,000 in 2021). He is buried near his wife and sons at St Martin's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

Images for kids

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  Lord Randolph Churchill and Lady Randolph Churchill (Jennie Jerome) in Paris (1874) by Georges Penabert

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  "The Fourth Party" Spencer-Churchill, Balfour, Drummond-Wolff and Gorst as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, 1 December 1880
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  Lord Randolph Churchill

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  Oil on canvas painting of Lord Churchill by Edwin Arthur Ward (1886)

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  Marker at Lord Churchill's former home.

See also

In Spanish: Randolph Churchill para niños