Caroline Spencer, Duchess of Marlborough
Caroline Spencer, Duchess of Marlborough (January 1743 – 26 November 1811), formerly Lady Caroline Russell, was the wife of George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough.
Caroline was the daughter of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, and his second wife, the former Gertrude Leveson-Gower. She married the duke on 23 August 1762 at Bedford House, Bloomsbury, London. Their children were:[1]
- Lady Caroline Spencer (1763-1813), who married Henry Ellis, 2nd Viscount Clifden, and had children
- Lady Elizabeth Spencer (c.1764-1812), who married John Spencer, and had children
- Lady Charlotte Spencer (c.1765-1802), who married Reverend Edward Nares and had children
- George Spencer-Churchill, 5th Duke of Marlborough (1766-1840)
- Lady Anne Spencer (1773-1865), who married Cropley Ashley-Cooper, 6th Earl of Shaftesbury, and had children
- Lady Amelia Sophia Spencer (c.1774-1829), who married Henry Pytches Boyce
- Francis Almeric Spencer, 1st Baron Churchill of Whichwood (1779-1845), who married Lady Frances FitzRoy and had children
A letter survives from Caroline to Ozias Humphrey, which has been approximately dated to 1788. In it she refers to a portrait drawing of her husband by Thomas Gainsborough. Gainsborough having died in 1788, she asks Humphrey to complete the painted portrait.[2] Caroline and her husband were also painted together by William Austin. Her own portrait, as a child, had been painted by Jean Etienne Liotard, in around 1754. She was also painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds around the time of her marriage,[3] and later, with her eldest daughter.[4]
Queen Charlotte, consort of King George III, is reputed to have called Caroline "the proudest woman in England".[5]
She died and was buried at Blenheim Palace.
References
- ↑ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999. Page 1868
- ↑ "Letter : Caroline Spencer, Duchess of Marlborough (1743-1811) to Ozias Humphrey". Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ↑ "Lady Caroline Spencer (née Russell), Duchess of Marlborough". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ↑ "Caroline, Dutchess of Marlborough and her Daughter Lady Caroline Spencer". British Museum. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ↑ G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume VIII, page 500.