John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough 1822 –1883

John Winston Spencer Churchill 7th Duke of Marlborough KG, PC 1822 –1883 styled Earl of Sunderland from 1822 to 1840 and Marquess of Blandford from 1840 to 1857, was a British statesman and nobleman. He was the paternal grandfather of Winston Churchill.

Marlborough was a patient (Anon, American Observer Medical Monthly, Volume 9, (1872). Page 153) of, and also a relative of (through his wife Lady Frances Vane), of James John Garth Wilkinson. Marlborough employed homeopath George Lennox Moore to treat the animals on his estates (Samuel Basil Carlingford, Who wins?: Being the autobiography of Samuel Basil Carlingford, M. D. (Jarrold, 1867). Page 155) at Blenheim Palace.

Marlborough served under Benjamin Disraeli,

(References: Anon, The Journal of the British Homoeopathic Society, Volume 4, (1866). Page 444-468. See also Henry Charles Angell, The New England Medical Gazette, Volume 1, (Boston, and James Epps, 112 Great Russell Street, 1866). Pages 15-22. See also Leone Levi (Ed.), Annals of British Legislation: Digest of blue books, Volume 4, (Smith, Elder and Co, 65 Cornhill, 1868). Page 78 and multiple other pages. See also Anon, Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Royal Agricultural Society of England, (John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1866). Page 230-288.) In 1866, Marlborough was the Chairman of the Association for the Trial of Preventative and Curative Treatment in the Cattle Plague by the Homeopathic Method, with George Thomas Keppel 6th Earl of Albemarle, William Pitt Amherst 2nd Earl Amherst, Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset 8th Duke of Beaufort, Ralph Buchan, William Alleyne Cecil Lord Burghley 3rd Marquess of Exeter, William Coutts Keppel Viscount Bury 7th Earl of Albemarle, James Key Caird 1st Baronet (Vice Chairman), Colonel Challoner, George Grimston Craven 3rd Earl of Craven, Henry William Dashwood 5th Baronet, Patrick Dudgeon, Robert Grosvenor 1st Baron Ebury, Francis Richard Charteris 10th Earl of Wemyss Lord Elcho, Arthur Algernon Capell 6th Earl of Essex, Philip Howard Frere, Richard Grosvenor Earl Grosvenor 2nd Marquess of Westminster, Edward Kerrison, Henry Charles Keith Petty Fitzmaurice 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, Lord Llanover, Colonel Farnaby Lennard, George Loch, Archibald Keppel MacDonald, Arthur de Vere Capell Viscount Malden, Frederick Francis Maude, William Miles, James Moore, Charles Gordon Lennox 5th Duke of Richmond, Charles Marsham 3rd Earl of Romney, Sir Anthony Rothschild, John Villiers Shelley, John Robert Townshend 1st Earl Sydney, Lt. Colonel Charles Towneley, Augustus Henry Vernon, William Warren Vernon, Arthur Richard Wellesley 2nd Duke of Wellington (1807-1884), William Wells,

In 1866, the Treasury placed rooms at Adelphi Terrace at the disposal of Marlborough, who was the Chairman of the Association for the Trial of Preventative and Curative Treatment in the Cattle Plague by the Homeopathic Method, based on the research done in Belgium by Edward Hamilton, with Marlborough overseeing the work of Edward Hamilton, George Lennox Moore, James Moore and Alfred Crosby Pope.

William Coutts Keppel Viscount Bury 7th Earl of Albemarle issued an address or report (Anon, The North American Journal of Homeopathy, Volume 14, American Medical Union, (William Radde New York, Otis Clapp St Louis, Henry Turner and James Epps, London, (and very many others), 1866). Page 448-452) for the Association for the Trial of Preventative and Curative Treatment in the Cattle Plague by the Homeopathic Method in 1866. Bury reported that the Dutch had experienced such success with homeopathy against that cattle plague, that they had authorised Edward Hamilton to visit Holland to investigate this.

Edward Hamilton discovered that the Dutch had treated 4798 cattle, 1031 were destroyed = 3767 were treated (with a mixture of allopathic and homeopathic treatments), the survival rate for the beasts treated was 45%, and the survival rate for the beasts treated only by homeopathy was 72-5%.

The Dutch Government had agreed to allow E Seutin, a homeopathic chemist, the total control of infected cattle in Matterness, and initially, E Seutin saved 70% of the cattle, though latterly, he had saved 9 out of every 10 beasts brought to him for treatment, and E Seutin’s use of homeoprophylaxic treatment of unifected beasts brought the epidemic under control entirely within four weeks. Matterness was pronounced free from infection and it has remained thus ever since. The remedies used were arsenicum, phosphorus, phos ac, rhus tox and sulphur.

In 1866, George Lennox Moore became involved with Association for the Trial of Preventative and Curative Treatment in the Cattle Plague by the Homeopathic Method, alongside Edward Hamilton and Alfred Crosby Pope, and overseen byMarlborough.

George Lennox Moore wrote a detailed report (John James Drysdale, Robert Ellis Dudgeon, Richard Hughes, John Rutherford Russell, The British Journal of Homeopathy, On the early stages of the cattle plague__, Volume 24, (Maclachlan, Stewart, & Co., 1866). Page 95) on these trials, including a refutation of the falsities published in _The Lancet__ _regarding the homeopathic treatment of the cattle plague, attacking William Coutts Keppel Viscount Bury 7th Earl of Albemarle and accusing him of ‘being completely misinformed on this matter‘, and inventing a trail of misleading mistruths about the situation.

The orthodox statistics of this clinical trial revealed 8640 cases, 8% killed, 77% died and 15% recovered, though Marlborough subsequently issued the interim homeopathic results claiming up to 50% recovery rates with arsenicum, belladonna, phosphorus, rhus tox and turpentine as the main homeopathic remedies used.

On 17th October 1866, James Key Caird 1st Baronet (1837-1916) wrote to The Times from the Hague to draw attention to the Association for the Trial of Preventative and Curative Treatment in the Cattle Plague by the Homeopathic Method, and to the benefits of homeopathy. Much to the fury of the orthodox establishment, The Times wrote an article (Clive A. Spinage, Cattle Plague: A History, (Springer, 2003). Multiple pages) wishing the homeopaths success in these homeopathic trials, but they also made a pithy comment that the allopaths would probably rather see all the cattle die than have homeopathy proved successful.

The final report on the homeopathic trials in the treatment of cattle plague was issued by Marlborough. The orthodox statistics of this clinical trial revealed 8640 cases, 8% killed, 77% died and 15% recovered, though Marlborough subsequently issued the interim homeopathic results claiming up to 50% recovery rates with arsenicum, belladonna, phosphorus, rhus tox and turpentine as the main homeopathic remedies used.

Of course, the ‘valuable and so far successful’ results of the homeopathic trials so far outstripped orthodox treatments, the homeopathic trials were immediately postponed by ‘orthodox sources’ (Anon, Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Royal Agricultural Society of England, (John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1866). Page 230-288).

Marlborough was born at Garboldisham Hall, Norfolk, the eldest son of George Spencer Churchill, 6th Duke of Marlborough and Lady Jane, daughter of Admiral George Stewart, 8th Earl of Galloway. He was educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford.

Marlborough was Member of Parliament for Woodstock from 1844 to 1845 and again from 1847 to 1857, when he succeeded his father in the dukedom and entered the House of Lords.

He served under Lord Derby as Lord Steward of the Household from 1866 to 1867 and under Lord Derby and later Benjamin Disraeli as Lord President of the Council (with a seat in the cabinet) from 1867 to 1868. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1866 and made a Knight of the Garter in 1868. He again held office under Benjamin Disraeli as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1876 to 1880.

On 12 July 1843, Marlborough married Lady Frances Anne Emily (1822 – 1899), the only daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. They had eleven children:

• George Charles Spencer Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough (1844–1892)

• Lord Frederick John Winston Spencer Churchill (1846–1850).

• Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer Churchill (1847–1927), married Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne

• Lady Rosamond Jane Frances Spencer Churchill (d. 1920)

• Lord Randolph Henry Spencer Churchill (1849–1895), Conservative politician and the father of Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

• Lady Fanny Octavia Louise Spencer-Churchill (1853–1904). She married Edward Marjoribanks 2nd Baron Tweedmouth.

• Lady Anne Emily Spencer Churchill (1854–1923)

• Lord Charles Ashley Spencer Churchill (1856–1858), died young.

• Lord Augustus Robert Spencer Churchill (1858–1859), died young.

• Lady Georgiana Elizabeth Spencer Churchill (1860–1906)

• Lady Sarah Isabella Augusta Spencer Churchill (1865–1929)

Marlborough died in July 1883, aged 61, and was succeeded by his eldest son, George Charles Spencer Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough. The Duchess of Marlborough died in April 1899, aged 77.

If interest:

Consuelo Duchess of Marlborough threw a bag of gold coins at homeopath Dudley d’Auvergne Wright as his train departed for France in 1914 when he left to set up the Hopital de L’Alliance.