Gladys Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
Gladys Marie Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough ("née" Deacon; 7 February 1881 – 13 October 1977) was a French American aristocrat and socialite.
She was the mistress and later the second wife of Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough.
Robert Spencer, 4th Earl of Sunderland
Robert Spencer, 4th Earl of Sunderland( 24 October 1701 – 15 September 1729) was a British peer from the Spencer family, the son of the Whig politician, Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland.
His mother was Lady Anne Churchill, the daughter of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough.
Known as Lord Spencer between 1702 and 1722, he succeeded to the Earldom after his father's death in 1722, but died in 1729 with no children.
Therefore, his brother, Charles, became 5th Earl of Sunderland, and subsequently 3rd Duke of Marlborough after the death of his aunt, Henrietta Godolphin(" née" Churchill), 2nd Duchess of Marlborough.
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough,
1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.), was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs.
From a gentry family, he served first as a page at the court of the House of Stuart under James, Duke of York, through the 1670s and early 1680s, earning military and political advancement through his courage and diplomatic skill.
Churchill's role in defeating the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 helped secure James on the throne, but he was a key player in the military conspiracy that led to James being deposed during the Glorious Revolution.
Rewarded by William III with the title Earl of Marlborough, persistent charges of Jacobitism led to his fall from office and temporary imprisonment in the Tower of London.
William recognised his abilities by appointing him as his deputy in Flanders before the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701 but it was not until the accession of Queen Anne in 1702 he secured his fame and fortune.
Marriage to Sarah Jennings and her relationship with Anne ensured Marlborough's rise, first to the Captain-Generalcy of British forces, then to a dukedom.
As de facto leader of Allied forces in the Low Countries, his victories at Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), Oudenarde (1708), and Malplaquet (1709), ensured his place in history as one of Europe's great generals.
His wife's stormy relationship with the Queen, and her subsequent dismissal from court, was central to his own fall.
Incurring Anne's disfavour, and caught between Tory and Whig factions, Marlborough was forced from office and went into self-imposed exile.
He returned to favour with the accession of George I to the British throne in 1714, but a stroke in 1716 ended his active career.
Marlborough's leadership of the Allied armies fighting Louis XIV from 1701 to 1710 consolidated Britain's emergence as a front-rank power, while his ability to maintain unity in the fractious coalition demonstrated his diplomatic skills.
He is often remembered by military historians as much for his organisational and logistic skills as tactical abilities.
However, he was also instrumental in moving from the siege warfare that dominated the Nine Years' War, arguing one battle was worth ten sieges.
Mary Montagu, Duchess of Montagu
Mary Montagu, Duchess of Montagu (15 July 1689 – 14 May 1751), formerly Lady Mary Churchill, was a British court official and noble, the wife of John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu.
She was the youngest surviving daughter of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and his wife Sarah.
Lily Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
Lily Spencer- Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough( née Lilian Warren Price)( June 10, 1854 – January 11, 1909) was an American heiress and socialite during the Gilded Age.
Albertha Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
Albertha Frances Anne Spencer- Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, VA( 29 July 1847 – 7 January 1932) was an English aristocrat.
Isabella Montagu, Duchess of Manchester
Isabella Montagu, Duchess of Manchester( c.1706 – 20 December 1786), formerly Lady Isabella Montagu, was the wife of William Montagu, 2nd Duke of Manchester.
She was the daughter of John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu and his wife, the former Lady Mary Churchill.
Her sister, Mary, became Countess of Cardigan.
Their three brothers all died in childhood.
She married the Duke of Manchester on 16 April 1723, about two years after he had inherited the dukedom.
They were childless, and remained married until the duke's death in 1739.
The duchess remarried, in 1743, the politician Edward Hussey- Montagu, who was raised to the peerage in 1762 as Baron Beaulieu and in 1784 was created Earl Beaulieu.
There were two children from this second marriage: Isabella was one of the twenty- one' ladies of quality and distinction' who supported Thomas Coram's efforts to establish a Foundling Hospital, who are now credited with making the endeavour a success by lending it respectability and style.
She added her name to his petition on 6 January 1730, which was later presented to King George II in 1735.
The duchess was known as a talented amateur artist, who, according to Horace Walpole," painted remarkably well in crayons".
It was said that her second husband" lived in the shadow of his proud and wealthy wife: she, the daughter and widow of dukes, was determined that her husband's rank should correspond to her fortune."
When the Montagu family title was given to the son of her younger sister, Lady Cardigan, she withdrew from court, and in 1776, when it was decided that the Duke of Montagu was to be created Earl of Montagu with remainder to his daughter, she claimed that had been promised this title for her husband.
Lord North confirmed that he had given such a promise in 1772, but the King, George III, would not go back on his word.
The Duke of Montagu waived his claim to the earldom, and Beaulieu was created an earl in 1784 but never received the title of Montagu.
Mary Montagu, Countess of Cardigan
Mary Montagu, Duchess of Montagu (c.1711 – 2 May 1775), known as Countess of Cardigan between 1730 and 1749, was the wife of George Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan.
She was the daughter of John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu, on whose death in 1749
her husband inherited the family estates and took the surname "Montagu".
Her mother was Lady Mary Churchill, daughter of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.
In 1766, her husband the earl was made a duke, reviving the titles that had become extinct as a result of his father-in-law's death without a male heir.
Lady Mary married the earl on 7 July 1730 at St Giles-in-the-Fields.
They had two children:
Other children died in infancy.
The duchess died at the age of about 63, and was buried at St Edmund's Church, Warkton, Northamptonshire.
Her memorial was sculpted by Peter Mathias van Gelder to a design by Robert Adam, and was completed in 1781.
Edward Hussey-Montagu, 1st Earl Beaulieu
Edward Hussey- Montagu, 1st Earl Beaulieu, KB( 1721 – 25 November 1802) was a British peer and politician.
Born Edward
Hussey, he was the son of Irish parents, James Hussey and Catherine" née" Parsons( a daughter of Richard Parsons, 1st Viscount Rosse).
The Hussey family had come to Ireland in 1172, and became substantial landowners in County Meath and County Kerry.
The senior branch of this family held the title Baron Galtrim, although this appears to have been an Irish feudal barony rather than a peerage and did not entitle its holder to sit in the Irish House of Lords.
In 1743, he married Isabella Montagu, Dowager Duchess of Manchester, a daughter of the 2nd Duke of Montagu and Lady Mary" née" Churchill( a daughter of the 1st Duke of Marlborough).
In 1749, he legally changed his surname to Hussey- Montagu and was made a Knight Companion of the Bath in 1753.
From 1758 to 1762, he was Whig Member of Parliament for Tiverton and on his retirement was raised to the Peerage as Baron Beaulieu, of Beaulieu in the County of Southampton, and later Earl Beaulieu, of Beaulieu in the County of Southampton, in 1784.
Upon his death in Dover Street( off Piccadilly) in 1802, his titles became extinct as his only son, John, Lord Montagu had died in 1787.
He was buried on 14 December that year at Warkton, Northamptonshire.
Edward Montagu lived in the shadow of his proud and wealthy wife: she, the daughter and widow of dukes, was determined that her husband's rank should correspond to her fortune.
Montagu was returned for Tiverton at Newcastle's recommendation, and himself seems never to have applied for a peerage."
" That was left to his wife, but her success in 1762 was short of what she had hoped: three days before her husband was created a peer, the family title of Montagu was given to the son of her younger sister, Lady Cardigan; and in 1766 the dukedom of Montagu was revived for Lord Cardigan.
On this, Lord Beaulieu went into opposition and his wife ceased to attend a court."
" When in 1776 the Duke of Montagu was to be created Earl of Montagu with reminder to her daughter, Lady Beaulieu protested that she had been promised this title for her husband.
But, the King wrote to North on 30 May 1776, « she never had any promise from me, and no other proof can be necessary that her manifest appearances of neglect in never coming to court since the Duke of Montagu was advanced, which conduct has uniformly been followed by her son, and the political part Lord Beaulieu has taken if the others are not proofs sufficient show none of the family placed any hopes on me. »"
" North recollected that he had given such a promise in 1772, but the King would not go back on his word to the Duke of Montagu.
The affair blew over when Montagu waived his claim to the earldom.
( Fortescue, iii. 365- 7).
Beaulieu was created an earl in 1784 by Pitt; even so, the title of Montagu was withheld from him.
John Churchill, Marquess of Blandford
John Churchill, Marquess of Blandford( 13 February 1686 20 February 1703)( sometimes called Charles Churchill) was a British nobleman.
He was the heir apparent to the Dukedom of Marlborough as the only surviving son of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, an accomplished general, and Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, a close friend of Queen Anne.
Blandford died childless in 1703, and upon his father's death in 1722, the dukedom passed to his eldest sister, Lady Henrietta Godolphin( née Churchill).

Question: Why did Mary Montagu, Duchess Of Montagu's father die?
Answer: stroke