The Right Honourable The Earl of Sunderland KGPC
Portrait byGodfrey Kneller
First Lord of the Treasury
In office 21 March 1718 – 3 April 1721
Monarch	George I
Preceded by	The Viscount Stanhope
Succeeded by	Robert Walpole
Lord President of the Council
In office 16 March 1718 – 6 February 1719
Monarch	George I
Preceded by	The Duke of Devonshire
Succeeded by	The Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull
Personal details
Born	Charles Spencer (1675-04-23)23 April 1675
Died	19 April 1722(1722-04-19) (aged 46) London,Greater London,England
Resting place	Brington, Northamptonshire,England
Nationality	English
Political party	Whig
Spouses	Arabella Cavendish ​ ​ (m. 1695⁠–⁠1698)​ Anne Churchill ​ (m. 1700⁠–⁠1716)​ Judith Tichborne ​ ​ (m. 1717⁠–⁠1722)​
Children	10, includingRobert,Anne Spencer, Viscountess Bateman,Charles,John Spencer, andDiana Spencer, Duchess of Bedford
Parent(s)	Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland Anne Digby
Alma mater	Utrecht University
Occupation	Statesman

Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland,KG,PC (23 April 1675^[1] – 19 April 1722), styled asLord Spencer from 1688 to 1702, was a British politician from theSpencer family. He served asLord Lieutenant of Ireland (1714–1717),Lord Privy Seal (1715–1716),Lord President of the Council (1718–1719) andFirst Lord of the Treasury (1718–1721). He is an ancestor of bothWinston Churchill andDiana, Princess of Wales, and through her, the currentheir to theBritish throne,William, Prince of Wales.

He was the second son ofRobert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland andAnne Digby, daughter ofGeorge Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol. On the death of his elder brother Robert inParis in September 1688, he became heir to thepeerage. Called byJohn Evelyn "a youth of extraordinary hopes," he completed his education atUtrecht, and in 1695 entered theHouse of Commons as member forTiverton. In the same year, he married Arabella, daughter ofHenry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle; she died in 1698 and in 1700, he marriedAnne Churchill, daughter ofJohn Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough andSarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. This was an important alliance for Sunderland and for his descendants; through it, he was introduced to political life and later the dukedom of Marlborough came to the Spencers.^[2]

In 1698 he plunged his family into scandal when his brother-in-lawDonogh MacCarthy, 4th Earl of Clancarty, who had been imprisoned in theTower of London for his support forJames II and later escaped, was reconciled with his long-estranged wife, Charles' sister Elizabeth, and at long last consummated the marriage. Charles, alerted by his father's servants, had Clancarty arrested while he was actually in bed with Elizabeth. The result was a public uproar which gravely embarrassed their parents.William III treated the matter as a trifle, wondering why everyone he met teased him about "that little spark Clancarty", and gave the couple permission to settle inAltona, Hamburg. Elizabeth, who died in Hamburg in 1704, never saw her parents or brother again. His father's biographer comments that the affair did not show Charles in a good light either as a man or a brother.^[3]

Having succeeded to the peerage in 1702, Sunderland was one of the commissioners for the union betweenEngland andScotland, and in 1705, he was sent toVienna as envoy extraordinary. Although he was tinged with republican ideas and had made himself obnoxious toQueen Anne by opposing the grant to her husband,Prince George, through the influence of Marlborough he was foisted into the ministry asSecretary of State for the Southern Department, taking office in December 1706.

From 1708 to 1710, he was one of the fiveWhigs collectively called theJunto, who dominated the government, but he had many enemies, the Queen still disliked him, and in June 1710, he was dismissed. Anne offered him a pension of £3000 a year, but this he refused, saying "if he could not have the honour to serve his country he would not plunder it."^[2] When Marlborough protested about the dismissal, the Queen inquired sarcastically whether "the Peace of Europe must depend on it?" She added that Sunderland was universally unpopular, which was indeed the case.^[4]

Sunderland continued to take part in public life, and was active in communicating with the court ofHanover about the steps to be taken in view of the approaching death of the queen. He made the acquaintance ofGeorge I in 1706, but when theelector became king, Sunderland only secured the comparatively unimportant position ofLord Lieutenant of Ireland. In August 1715, he joined the cabinet asLord Privy Seal. After a visit to George I in Hanover, he secured, in April 1717, the position ofSecretary of State for the Northern Department. This he retained until March 1718, when he becameFirst Lord of the Treasury, holding also the post ofLord President of the Council. He was now effectively theprime minister. Sunderland was especially interested in the proposedPeerage Bill, a measure designed to limit the number of members of theHouse of Lords, but this was defeated owing partly to the opposition of SirRobert Walpole.^[2]

In 1719, he succeededLionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset in the court position asGroom of the Stool to King George I, which he held until his death in 1722. He was also made a knight of theOrder of the Garter in 1719. He was also a main subscriber in theRoyal Academy of Music, a corporation that producedbaroque opera on stage.^[5][6]

The bursting of theSouth Sea Bubble led to his political ruin. He had taken some part in launching the scheme of 1720, therefore public opinion was roused against him and it was only through the efforts of Walpole that he was acquitted by theHouse of Commons, when the matter was investigated. In April 1721, he resigned his offices, but he retained his influence with George I until his own death on 19 April 1722.^[2]

Sunderland inherited his father's passion for intrigue, while his manners were repelling, but he stands high among his associates for disinterestedness and had an alert and discerning mind. From his early years, he had a great love of books, and he spent his leisure and his wealth in forming the library atAlthorp, which in 1703 was described as "the finest in Europe." In 1749, part of it was removed toBlenheim Palace.^[2]

In 1722 Sunderland was implicated in what became known as theAtterbury Plot, to restore theHouse of Stuart, and his death was one of the factors which brought the Plot to light.^[7]

The town ofSunderland, Massachusetts, was named in his honour in November 1718, just after he became Lord President of the Council.^[8]

His first wife was Lady Arabella Cavendish (19 August 1673 – 4 June 1698), daughter ofHenry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle. They had one daughter:

• Lady Frances Spencer (c. 1696 – 27 July 1742), marriedHenry Howard, 4th Earl of Carlisle.

His second wife wasLady Anne Churchill (27 February 1683 – 15 April 1716). After the eldest sisterHenrietta Churchill got married in 1698,Sarah Jenyns began arranging the marriage between her beloved daughter Anne and the young widower Charles. Charles's motherthe Countess of Sunderland was a friend of Sarah. With this idea, Sarah could be credited with the foundation of the Spencer-Churchill family. Although the Countess of Sunderland supported the marriage, Sarah was hesitant over the match. Politically, the marriage of Anne Churchill and Charles Spencer was a good match, for Charles was a rising Whig star in Parliament. However, on a personal level Sarah found him unattractive, for his face had a giant smallpox scar. Her husbandJohn Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough also disagreed with the match.^[9] As a result, the courtship between Charles and Anne dragged on for almost two years.^[10] On the other hand, the Duchess of Marlborough thought Charles Spencer did not love her daughter enough; but the Countess of Sunderland told Sarah that the beauty and sweetness of Anne had won her son's heart, and the Earl also gave Sarah a rash promise that Charles should be ruled by Marlborough in all things political. Finally, Sarah gave way and persuaded her husband to give permission to the marriage.^[11] On 2 January 1700, Anne Churchill married Charles Spencer.The Princess Anne gave her goddaughter a wedding gift of 5,000 pounds, as she had to Anne's elder sister Henrietta.^[12][13][14] Despite Sarah's misgivings, the marriage of her daughter to Charles was a happy one: Anne was a wonderful wife, and Charles loved her dearly.^[15] Anne died at the age of 33 in April 1716, after a career of considerable influence on the political life of her time. They had six children:

• Hon. Robert Spencer (2 December 1700 – 12 September 1701).
• Robert Spencer, 4th Earl of Sunderland (24 October 1701 – 27 November 1729).
• Lady Anne Spencer (1702 – 19 February 1769), marriedWilliam Bateman, 1st Viscount Bateman.
• Charles Spencer, 5th Earl of Sunderland (22 November 1706 – 20 October 1758), succeeded his aunt,Henrietta Godolphin, 2nd Duchess of Marlborough, as 3rd Duke of Marlborough.
• Hon. John Spencer (13 May 1708 – 19 June 1746), father ofJohn Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer.
• Lady Diana Spencer (1710 – 27 September 1735), marriedJohn Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford.

In 1717, Charles married an Irish lady of fortune, Judith Tichborne (c. 1702 – 17 May 1749), daughter of Sir Benjamin Tichborne of Beaulieu (younger brother of SirHenry Tichborne, 1st Baron Ferrard, Irish cr. 1715) and Elizabeth Gibbs. They had three children who died in infancy:

• Unnamed child (born and died 1718).
• Lady Margaret Spencer (born and died 1719) - her coffin was removed from St James' Church London where she had been first been buried and interred at the family vault in Great Brington Church on the same day as her father's burial that of 1st May 1722
• Hon. William Spencer (1720 – 17 April 1722) - interred in the family vault in Great Brinton Church on the same day as his father that of 1st May 1722

After his death, she marriedSir Robert Sutton (1671 – 13 August 1746).

• Kingdom of Great Britain

• Campbell, Kathleen Winifred (1933).Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. London, T. Butterworth.
• Field, Ophelia (2003).The Favourite: Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. London: Sceptre.ISBN 978-0-340-76808-2.
• Snyder, Henry (May 2006). "Spencer, Charles, third earl of Sunderland (1675–1722)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26117. (Subscription,Wikipedia Library access orUK public library membership required.)

• 1675 births
• 1722 deaths
• Secretaries of state for the Northern Department
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• Knights of the Garter
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