Page 3 - GB Parliamentary and Other Stories

Sarah Churcbi~, Duchess of Marlborough

One of the most influential women in British History, one-time closest friend of Queen Anne, and politically
active throughout her long life. The Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1744) married J9hn Churclzjll, later Duke
of Marlborough, in 1677 at age 17. They are buried in the chapel of their home, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire.

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Sarah Churchill writes in her usual jagged cilrsive handwriting on the flyleaf of a book that she had been given in
the pivotal year of 1714, the year of the death of her one-time closest friend, Queen Anne. 1714 also brought the
end of the Stuart dynasty as mlers of Great Britain, and tl1.e advent of tl1e Hanoverians.

The Duchess would have known the important London bookseller and publisher, Jacob Tonson ( c. 1656-1736),
and this book binding apparently had the annorial anns of the Duchess thereon.