Francis Spencer, 2nd Baron Churchill

Francis George Spencer, 2nd Baron Churchill, was born on 6 October 1802 at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire. He was the eldest son of Francis Spencer, 1st Baron Churchill, and Lady Frances FitzRoy. His familial connections included notable figures such as his paternal grandparents, George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough, and Lady Caroline Russell, daughter of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, who served as British Ambassador to France. His maternal grandparents were Elizabeth Wrottesley, daughter of Rev. Sir Richard Wrottesley, 7th Baronet and Dean of Worcester, and Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, who was Prime Minister from October 1768 to January 1770.

His siblings included a younger sister, Hon. Caroline Elizabeth Spencer, who married Robert Dillon, 3rd Baron Clonbrock, and a brother, Sir Augustus Spencer, who married Helen Maria Campbell, daughter of Lt.-Gen. Sir Archibald Campbell, 1st Baronet.

Spencer was educated at Harrow School and later matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1821. Between 1823 and 1828, he served as the British attaché in Austria, and in 1828, he became the attaché at Lisbon. He completed his academic studies at Oxford, earning a Doctor of Civil Law degree in 1834.

He succeeded to the title of 2nd Baron Churchill of Whichwood following the death of his father on 10 March 1845. His roles included serving as Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire and commanding as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry beginning in 1857.

On 19 May 1849, Spencer married Lady Jane Conyngham at Bifrons, Kent. Lady Jane was the eldest daughter of General Sir Francis Conyngham, 2nd Marquess Conyngham, and Lady Jane Paget, daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey. She held the position of Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria from 1854 until 1900.

Francis and Lady Jane had one son, Victor Albert Francis Charles (1864–1934), who succeeded Spencer as the 3rd Baron Churchill in 1886. Victor was later created Viscount Churchill in 1902. He married Lady Verena Maud Lowther, daughter of Henry Lowther, 3rd Earl of Lonsdale, in 1887; the marriage ended in divorce in 1927. Subsequently, Victor married Christine McRae Sinclair, daughter of William Sinclair, in 1927.

Throughout his life, Spencer maintained distant familial connections to prominent individuals, including being a first cousin, twice removed, of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. He was also related to Diana, Princess of Wales, being a third cousin, four times removed, and is an ancestor of her sons, Princes William and Harry.

Francis George Spencer, 2nd Baron Churchill, died at the age of 84 on 24 November 1886 at his residence at 32 Albemarle Street in Mayfair, London.