Charles Spencer, 3rd Duke of Marlborough, (22 November 1706 – 20 October 1758), styled The Hon. Charles Spencer between 1706 and 1729 and the Earl of Sunderland between 1729 and 1733, was a British Army officer and politician who served as Lord Privy Seal in 1755. He led the British forces involved in the raid on St Malo in 1758.
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Early life
He was the second son of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, and Lady Anne Churchill, the second daughter of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and his wife Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. He inherited the Sunderland peerages from his older brother in 1729, becoming 5th Earl of Sunderland, and then the Marlborough peerages from his aunt Henrietta, Duchess of Marlborough, in 1733. At that time, he handed over the Sunderland estates to his younger brother John, but he did not obtain Blenheim Palace until Sarah, the dowager duchess, died in 1744.
On Thursday, 14 July 1737, Marlborough captained his own cricket team in a match against the Prince of Wales's XI on Kew Green. The Prince's XI are known to have won the match, which was apparently of a minor standard, although publicised because of the participants. This is the only known mention of Marlborough in a cricketing connection.