Lord Randolph Churchill


Churchill, Lord Randolph

 

(Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill). Born Feb. 13, 1849, in Blenheim, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire; died Jan. 24, 1895, in London. British political figure.

The third son of the seventh duke of Marlborough, Churchill was elected to Parliament in 1874 as a member of the Conservative Party. Criticizing the party leadership’s policies, Churchill deemed it necessary for the Conservatives to adapt to new historical conditions, in particular by appealing to the working class, which had received the right to vote. Churchill was a supporter of colonial expansion, and in 1885–86 he was secretary of state for India and chancellor of the exchequer.