Dictionary of Indian Biography/Churchill, Lord Randolph Henry Spencer
CHURCHILL, LORD RANDOLPH HENRY SPENCER (1849–1894)
Son of the sixth Duke of Marlborough : born Feb. 13, 1849 : educated at Eton, and Merton College, Oxford : M.P. for Woodstock, 1874–1885; for South Paddington, 1885 to his death. The greater portion of his career in politics and the House of Commons had no connexion with India. He made a tour in that country in the cold weather of 1884–5, in which he studied its administration, and gained experience which was valuable to him when he was Secretary of State for India from June 24, 1885, to Feb. 5, 1886. In that post he made a reputation for his administrative capacity, his industry, knowledge of details, and despatch of business. He sanctioned the Burmese war of 1885–6 and the annexation of Upper Burma, and concluded the Russo-Afghan Frontier negotiations. He also sanctioned Mr. Colman Macaulay's visit to Pekin, with a view to a subsequent mission to Lhasa, which was afterwards stopped. He was on a sea voyage round the world for his health, when he had to leave Madras and return to England, and died there, Jan. 24, 1894.