John Churchill (1657–1709) of Colliton House and Fordington, Dorchester,

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, was an English lawyer and Whig politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

briefly from 1708 to 1709. Churchill was baptized on 10 February 1657, the second son of William Churchill of Muston, Dorset and his wife Grace Meller, the daughter of MP, John Meller. He was admitted at

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1675 and matriculated at

Trinity College, Oxford Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...

in 1676. In 1683, he was called to the bar. He married under a settlement dated 8 July 1693, Anne Darrel, widow of John Darrel and daughter of Roger Clavell of Smedmore, Dorset. Churchill was returned as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dorchester at the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November the Whi ...

, when he was marked by Lord Sunderland as a gain for the Whigs. There were several other Churchills in the House of Commons, which makes it difficult to identify any of Churchill's contributions. Churchill died without issue on 24 April 1709 and was buried in the Temple Church, London. He left his estate firstly to his widow, who died in 1722, and upon her death to his brother Charles Churchill.

References

1657 births 1709 deaths 18th-century English people People from Dorchester, Dorset Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Dorchester {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub