She married the duke, then Marquess of Blandford, on 13 January 1819. It was the future duke's first legal marriage, though he had previously gone through a false marriage ceremony (with his brother, Lord Charles Spencer-Churchill, playing the role of clergyman) and had then lived as husband and wife in Scotland with the 16-year-old Susannah Adelaide Law, which might have made the marriage legal under Scottish law. Blandford had successfully contested the matter in court, even though she had a child by him. His mother was obliged to pay Susannah an allowance in order to prevent her making public his letters.[2] He had also had an affair with Elizabeth Conyngham, Marchioness Conyngham.[3]
They had four children:
Lady Louisa Spencer-Churchill (c.1820–1882), who married the Honourable Robert Spencer, son of Francis Spencer, 1st Baron Churchill, and had issue.
The duchess died at Blenheim Palace, aged 46. The duke remarried a further twice, with more children from each marriage.[4]
References
^G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume VIII, page 501.
^A. L. Rowse, The Later Churchills. London: Macmillan, 1958, page 203
