The Press.
London, England, 1857-07-04 00:00:00

Obituarg.

HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF BEDFORD died
yesterday at the family mansion in Belgrave-square.
GEORGE SPENCER CHURCHILL, fifth Duke of Marl-
borough, Marquis of Blandtord, Earl of Sunderland,
Baron Spencer of Wormleighton, Baron Churchill
of Sandbridge, and a Prince of the Holy Roman
Empire, died on Wednesday last, at Blenheim, in
the sixty-fcurth year of his age. His Grace was the
eldest son of George, fourth Duke of Marlborough,
by Susan, daughter of John, seventh Earl of
Galloway, in the Scottish Peerage, and was born at
Bill Hill, in the parish of Sunning, Berks, on the
27th of December, 1703. He received his early
education at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and
first entered upon public life as Marquis of Bland-
ford in the summer of 1820, when he was elected as
one of the members for his father's pocket borough
of Woodstock, which be continued to represent down
to the dissolution consequent on passing the Reform
Bill, in December, 1832. On the retirement of Cap-
tain Peyton, in 1838, he was again elected for Wood-
stock, and continued to hold a seat in the Lower
House for that borough until the month of March,
1840, when the death of his father caused him to be
summoned to the House of Peers. In 1845 he was
appointed Lieutenant Colonel commanding the Ox-
fordshire Yeomanry Cavalry, and succeeded the late
Earl of Macclesfield as Lord Lieutenant and Cu•tos
Rotulorum of the county of Oxford in 1842. His
Grace was also patron of no less than eleven livings
in the Established Chula]. The title of Marl-
borough (the only counterpart of Wellington that is
to be found cn the roll of the English Peerage) was
conferred, an our reatTers are aware, in 1702, upon
John Churchill, the most celebrated captain of the
age in which he lived, if not the first general in the
military annals of England. It may not be un•
interesting to our readers to be reminded here of the
terms upon which the Duke of Marlborough hold
Blenheim from the nation. It was enacted in 1704
th at " On every 4th day of August, the anniversary
of the victory of Blenheim, the inheritors of the
Duke's honours and titles shall render at Windsor
unto her Majesty, her heirs, and successors, one
standard of colours, with three
.fieur de lie painted
thereon, in acquittance of all manner of rents, suits,
and services duo to the Crown of England." It is by
a similar tenure that the Duke of Wellington holds
the mansion of Strathfleldsaye, and in each case the
acknowledgment of the royal or national favour is
annually paid down to the present time.
THE EARL OF MORNINGTON died on Thursday, after
a brief illness, at his residence in London. He was
son of the third earl, and was born in 1788. In
1812 he married the eldest daughter and coheir of
the late Sir Jas. Tylney-Long, Bart., whose name he
thereupon assumed. The proceedings consequent
on that alliance brought the earl's name prominently
before the public many years ago. His wife died in
1825, since which Lord Mornington has been again
married. The constableship of Maryborough Castle
and the rangership of Epping Eorest become vacant
by the demise of the noble earl, who is succeeded in
the family honours by his son, Viscount Wellesley,
now fifth Earl of Mornington.